Caged No More
by Shrapnel893
Summary: The year is 845. A lone girl awakens from sixty years of slumber, only remembering the blood, tissue, and bone. The torment of the mindless. The face that haunts, the face that always reminds her that the world is cruel. That is always has been and that it always will be. And, as she runs from her fate, this is how the world starts its end, sinking further into the Void. Death.
1. Identity

**|. Identity**

Leftover snow soaked into her clothing as she lay curled in a fetal position. Whispering into her ear, the chilled voice of hunger. The image that crept into her mind, and the blood that still licked her tongue. Vomit that spewed from her mouth, her mind wanting the image to sink back into the darkness, the taste of the blood to be expelled. Neither would. Wiping saliva covered fingertips into blackened mud, nails clawing at the hard dirt underneath, she gagged. Another image flashed through her mind and she curled even tighter into a ball, as if doing so would bring comfort and make the images go away. _Make them disappear._ They wouldn't.

The screams.

_A decimated village, burning to ash, smoke as it billowed toward the sky. Claw-like hands dug into the ground, small beady black eyes staring out into the distance. _

The feeling of the flesh.

_Far away, four dark specks against the sun. Her prey. _

The crunching of the bone.

_Four children. Young boys all running for their lives __from __her wake..._

The taste of the blood.

_Whimpering. Garbled noises. Insignificant. Only that which hung significant, dangling. Head to the sky, jaws widening. Biting down. Tissue and bone. Blood spraying down the throat. Cracking, breaking. Intestines, fluids. Swallowing, spitting. Devouring._

The images assaulted her as she tried to rise from her position on the ground, collapsing from their weight. On her stomach, dampness soaking deeper into her clothes, she buried her face into the dirt. Suffocate the images. Keep moving. She pushed herself up and looked at the imprint of her face in the mud. Another spewing of vomit. _Keep moving._

Scratching and tearing herself on thorns, she followed a path barely visible, overtaken by time, obscured from unknown eyes. Clearing through, she finally came to it: a church. Crawling up the weathered steps, weakly pushing on one of the doors, it creaked as she eased herself inside. A long row of wooden pews on either side; various statues and crosses along the walls; windows missing their stained glass décor. Dust laying over everything. At the very front, a lone podium. Behind it, an altar. Two large statues flanked both sides of the altar and, as she peered closer, were something forgotten long ago. The depiction of what they were. What they were called.

Using the altar as a support for her weary limps, she paused to catch her breath before looking up at one of them. Its dusty plaque, rusted and cracked, cold to the touch. Small dark shapes appearing as she wiped her hand across. Once readable, now worn to near invisibility. _Letters_. Stepping back, she tried to sound out the word the letters made up.

_A... An..._

"_...gel._ _An... gel._ Angel." She ran her fingers across the word and noticed more words; smaller words. It hurt just to look at them. Pushed herself from the altar, she crouched beside the podium — hollow in the back. Scrunching herself into the space, putting her knees up against her chest, resting her chin on top of her hands, her eyelids heavy for the first time in what'd felt like ages...

**—-—-—**

_"Words have meaning, but names have power. They are undying labels, etched on the sins of our past behaviors."_

A few days and nights had passed since she'd first come to shelter inside the confines of the church, and in that time she had gathered twigs and broken branches from the surrounding area to build a fire.

"Names are your past and your future," she said to herself one night, gazing up at distant stars through the trees. Barren trees that had lost their youthfulness and color. Skinny and pathetic things with no purpose other than to feed the small fire she'd setup outside. "A name represents who and what you are, it is your identity to the rest of the world."

She couldn't remember hers. Her past. What she was, where she was from. As with the letters, words, and phrases that slowly came back to her, she guessed that, in time, the rest of her memories would come flooding back to her eventually. Huddled close to the fire she'd built for herself, its heat warming her chilled bones and frosted skin, she looked into its heart, watching as the flames licked the air and scorched the wood needed to fuel its life. Crackling, wisps of light danced into the sky and ashes shimmied to the ground.

From the depths of her mind, red flashes of pain came as she tried to remember more. The more she tried to forcibly remember, the more her vision filled with those blinding shades of red, and if they went on for too long, she'd pass out. "The power in a name," she whispered, reaching out to the brightest star, vision clear once more. "What... is my name?" she asked, as if the star would answer her question. Kicking the logs of her fire around and scattering the ashes, she lumbered lazily inside the church once again and glanced at the angel statue as soon as she passed and yawned, then curled up in her usual position inside the hollowed out space of the podium.

_Running, running as fast as humanly possible. Running away. The world, a sea of grass.. Greens, yellows, browns. Healthy__grass, weathered grass, dead grass. All in one vast togetherness, and there she was, just running in its midst. She wanted to keep running, but her legs wouldn't carry her anymore. She fell. _

_Worms and other creatures mingled together in the dew as the ground start to shake. She tried to rise, desperately tried, but her limps wouldn't respond. Forced to listen, until finally, its shadow cast over her, a claw hooking into the skin of her back. Silent as it hoisted her higher above the sea of grass, only full of brown now. The color of death. _

_Falling into its jaws, she could only look toward the sky — searching for the stars that weren't there.__Its teeth sunk into her legs and bit through tissue, muscle, and bone as she gasped. Blood draining, mind getting lighter, eyes getting heavier. _

_The never-ending pain. _

_Ripping into her thighs and tearing skin, chomping __down on her intestines, pulling them out as she vomited in her mouth. Stomach acid mixed with blood; spitting __and coughing __it out, the juices spilling down her chin. _

_The unrelenting pain._

_Ribs crushed, lungs squeezed, breathing intensifying as she tried to suck in more air. A heart about to burst, full of pressure as her blood clotted and formed into one red pasty mass.__Her blood, her bones, her muscles, her tissue, her flesh. Cracking, splintering, breaking. Squeezing, tearing, mincing. Suffocating. No more. Her arms pushed on its mouth, __heart ready to __explode as she let out __a scream that died in her throat. _

_Mucus fell from her nose and tears her eyes as the world became dark._

Jolted awake, she slammed her head into the podium and knocked it over. She retreated to the altar, sweating profusely. Nails clawing into the sides of her head, she shook violently, trying to expel the monster from her mind. She didn't want to go back to the way she was. Didn't want to be that way again, and hit her head against the stone of the altar and looked down at her hands. Normal hands — cut and scrapped, normal, _human_, hands. She winced as she touched the back of her head. Something wet, something red. Blood. She was bleeding. She laughed, tears falling from her face. Staring at bloody fingers, she wanted the sins of her past to wash away with her tears.

—**-—-—**

Her name. She would have to remember it, one way or another, to change who she was in past. That was her current focus, and as she threw rocks at a tree, there was no other choice. Stretching her tired arms, she inspected how much of the bark she'd managed to chip off. A fair amount.

She was steadily growing tired of sheltering at the abandoned church. Religion was just a comfort for the foolish and the needy. She didn't want to stay in the same place as the fools and beggars.

The ceiling of the church. Bare and ugly — the paint long since peeled off, leaving the stone naked and exposed. "No wonder this place was abandoned," she remarked aloud. "It's a piece of _shit_." Sticking a middle finger to the sky, telling whatever god that was watching to screw itself, she spat her disgust for everything about the church, and herself, _her past_, onto the dirty floor where the saliva mixed with decades of neglect. _Ruin_. She was ready to move on and forget it all. Moving to the angel statue, she drew her hand across its surface.

_A wall. A massive wall that stretched for miles as far as the eye could see. Behind it, buildings, people— a town. The town was burning and the people were running. Away from the wall. Away from her. The others like her. Sounds of gunfire. Cannonfire. Smoke._

The first wall — it was called something. Something with the letter _M._Maria. After it, Rose, and beyond that, Sina. She remembered them. Humanity's defensive walls. Agony shot through her skull as she contemplated more — as she _remembered_ more.

_An open field, outside a decimated village, she looked upon a gathering of monsters like herself. Standing there, watching her every move. They started to speak. Childish attempts at communicating their thoughts into one word. The word being spoken to her. Chanted._

The word repeated over and over and _over_ again and it just wouldn't stop. She wanted it to _stop_.

Hands shaking, she concentrated all on that one desire and bit down hard on her hand, drawing blood. Turning into the very thing she didn't want to see anymore, she smashed the podium and altar to pieces in her rage and— she reared back. This wasn't what she wanted. No. Never again.

Awhile later, her body felt incredibly hot as she slowly rose to her feet and looked around. Steam billowed from the floor around the skeleton of _something_ lying there. Something that she had been just a few hours before. Spinning around to the scene behind her, she let out a small laugh as she stared absentmindedly at an even more ruined church. Casting her eyes over the statue of the angel, she didn't give it a second thought as she stumbled outside into the evening light. Laughing even louder now, staring into the now dead fire, she knew what it was.

What she had been waiting and searching for until now. Still gazing into the ashes and charred wood, she mouthed the word, laughing to herself once again.

_Ymir._


	2. Moniker

**||. Moniker**

_If only you hadn't been born._

Her mother's last words. Historia watched the scene still play itself over and over again in her mind. That hateful face, those scared eyes. Knife plunging into the thin skin of her mother's neck, carving down to the bone underneath. The sight of her blood as it fell in trickles, and the warmth when it sprayed. She felt the part of her cheek where her mother's blood had hit — nothing came away this time.

_Your name is Krista Lenz._

They meant nothing from the very beginning, just a whore and her illegitimate child. She stared at the grass growing all over the field, stalks of wheat and other grains swaying briskly. Reclaimed territory set aside for orphans after Wall Maria's fall. Ahead was the farm, with its crooked door and broken windows, mold and decay seeping into its cracks. Her new temporary home. Eyes peeked out from the building, mouths whispered among themselves. Nobody had come out to greet her yet. Historia clutched at the bottom of her dress and tried detaching herself from their assumptions. _Worthless, a bitch's daughter, nothing more than the result of a father's vain attempt at mercy._

"Going to stand there all day?" the man who'd brought her asked. Sweaty and smelling faintly of alcohol, he scoffed at her. "Get on. Move it."

Historia put her hands over her ears and shook her head.

"I said move!" With a raised hand, he slapped her across the cheek. Lifting her by a tuft of blonde hair, he spat and dragged her to front of his carriage, behind the horses. "You'll learn one way or another." Taking a last swig of his flask, he poured the few drops left down her throat as she gagged and tossed it. "What it means to be nothing..."

Historia closed her eyes as his hand caressed up her thigh, and wanted to cry out as he unlaced her undergarments underneath her dress. She struggled to wiggle away as he clumsily tried to hold her still, punching her in the stomach out of frustration. Gasping, Historia's watery eyes went to the flask he'd tossed away and she stretched her fingers for it as the man licked her cheek. Clenching her teeth as he groped her chest, her fingers touched the flask. Grasping it between small fingers, she brought it down as hard as she could on the side of his face, the flask shattering into a dozen glass shards that cut into the palm of her hand. As he withered on the ground from the sudden blow she picked up one of the larger shards and slashed his neck. He made his last sighs with gurgles of blood as she left it embedded in his throat.

Eyes blankly staring, she fastened her undergarments on again. Blood ran along the crevices of her palm, dripping onto the ground. Bringing the hand to her dress, she wiped it off and turned to the horses. The farm was in the distance. She looked down at the man again, back to the farm, then to the horses. Climbing up on the end of the carriage, she sat atop the ledge and took the reins between slippery fingers. Unhooking the harness that bound the horses, watching them glance around in confusion, Historia patted the nearest one's rump.

She scooted onto its back and leaned down, embracing the creature. "Everything's going to be alright," she told it. "You're free now, so you can go wherever you want." The other horse was already gone. "Your friend left you, you're all alone..." she cried into its mane and tugged at its hair. "You're all alone with no where to go, but you're free now so it doesn't matter! So go! Leave already..." The horse just tossed its head around, then back, and she was thrown off. Staring up at slowly drifting clouds, she wanted to forget herself, remembering her father's final words to her.

_Your name is Krista Lenz._

**—-—-—**

She'd named the horse Almonds, after its color.

After leaving the farm, they'd gone a far distance, following the trail the carriage had taken, to finally reach the outskirts of a tiny village. Evening, yet many of the villagers were up and about because she could hear them working away. Sounds of hammers on wood, splashing of water into wells, flapping of clothes left out to dry. Almonds trotted over to a tree, under the shade, and Historia stroked his mane. He was slightly panting and she jumped off his back, her sights on the village. Making her way to the nearest well, she glanced around. Nobody. Pulling on the lever, the bucket dropped down with a thud and she reared back, bumping into something. That something cleared its throat and she looked up into a lady's wrinkled eyes. Her hat to keep away the sun cast a shadow over her and, after a moment, the lady averted her eyes to the well.

"That one's no good," she stated with a slight hoarseness in her voice. "Better off coming inside and taking what I have stored there."

Historia gulped. "I—"

"No need to apologize, just come inside with me. I'll get you some fresh water."

Nodding, Historia followed her to the back door of her house, adjacent to the well. As the lady stepped inside and held the door for her, she looked back to where Almonds was.

The lady took her by the hand, "Your horse is gonna be fine, I already gave him some water after you'd came sneaking over. Don't worry about him right now." She let her to a table and sat her down, then went to a counter and poured some water in a cup, offering it to her. "Here."

Taking the cup in one hand, Historia hid the other under the table. As she finished and set it down, the lady inclined with a tilt of her chin at her concealed hand.

"Let me see it."

Historia rested it on the table, palm side down.

"Flip it over."

She flipped it over.

Grabbing a cloth and distilled alcohol, the lady firmly held it down as she went over the cuts and wiped away dirt and dried blood. When she was done, she wrapped the cloth around her hand and sighed. "Young girls shouldn't behave so _recklessly._Now, do you want some bread I baked yesterday? It's still fresh."

"Why are you being so kind to me?"

The lady ruffled her hair gently. "My own selfishness. My daughter, you have the same loss of innocence she had."

"Your... daughter...?"

The lady nodded. "She joined the military a few years ago, before Maria fell. Hasn't been home since, the ungrateful child." She chuckled. "I don't even know if she's dead— they burn the bodies, did you know that? Could just be ash by now... and I wouldn't even know."

Historia felt something wet fall on her and looked up. The lady had tears in her eyes. "She's alive," she then stated, searching the lady's face as she put a hand on hers. "I believe she is... _has_ to be..." She looked down at the lady's hand — it was covered in callouses. "Can I... stay here a bit longer before I move on...?" The lady nodded and she buried her head into her shoulder, squeezing her hand tighter.

**—-—-—**

Thorpe, the village, lied on the fringes of Wall Sina, and its main purpose was the production of livestock and grains to be later hauled off to Yalkell, where it was processed first and foremost for the citizens of the Inner Wall, the leftovers spread among everyone else. In its entirety, the village was self-sufficient, only requiring water from other sources during seasons of dry spell. Everyone within Thorpe lived in longhouses made primarily of wood, their floors lightly covered in hay or grass. People, livestock, food storage — all located inside one of these longhouses, and as a result the community was tight-knit. _Homely._

Not without toll, Isolde put her to work on her farm just on Thorpe's outskirts, where she'd tried to take water from a well that had none to be found. Bruises covered her hands, dirt on her clothing, tiredness in her eyes. Nothing she wasn't used to be before. Herding sheep along with laying down crops of barley, hay, and wheat with other kids who's families owed Isolde in one way or another, or simply wanted to help, was a common daily task for her now.

Yet, when the other kids would look at her, they only saw a delicate creature taken in by a lonely mother. Their stares, their whispering, their accusations and assumptions — they wouldn't go away. She could never escape them no matter which way she turned. Left, right, up, down, north, east, south, west — it didn't matter.

Gripping the ends of a broom as she swept the porch of Isolde's farmhouse, she bit her bottom lip hard enough for blood to trickle down her chin. What once was soft and timid was still the same, no matter how hard she tried to change. Her blue eyes scanned the fields where she rode Almonds in her free-time and the tree where he spent his nights under. Something to be used, like her mother before her. Something to be cherished, like Isolde always reminded her. Perhaps she was like one of the rats scurrying along, or maybe one of the hawks that circled skies above. She had no way of knowing. Herbs, medicine, the technicalities of saving another life; feelings, emotions, the technicalities of understanding another life. Two of the many things she was grateful to have learned in her time here with Isolde, and yet, a relatively peaceful existence wasn't enough.

_If only you hadn't been born._

Isolde's only daughter. A soldier, a protector of humanity. And those monsters Isolde had mentioned, the things that had taken over Wall Maria and its lands within. Titans. Two of the Titans had been called the Colossal-Type and Armored-Type, being the two personally responsible for breaching Wall Maria. Isolde told her that those two Titans needed to be dealt with before they breached Wall Rose too, that the soldiers of the military would stop them. She said the soldiers were martyrs, dying for humanity's sake — people to be proud of, people worth value. Dying for what they believed and what humanity could accomplish, that they'd take back Maria and drive the Titans out.

Historia stared at her feet, the bristles of the broom, the gathered junk still on the porch's wooden finish, and smiled faintly. "The military..." Once again, she remembered her father's words...

_Your name is Krista Lenz. __A newly found light in the darkness._


	3. Tag

**|||. Tag**

Annie watched kids playing in one of the many streets that went through the Trost District. Crumbs fell onto her shirt and she didn't feel the need to wipe them off, the house Achi was staying in more important. After what had happened in their village, what they'd gone through, what she'd done. Doing exactly as her father had told her to. _But still._ She looked down at what remained of her leftover bread from the previous day and pitched it, mouth curled downward. Slow, groggy, and seemingly unhappy, a girl with long auburn hair in a gown came into view. Regardless of how she felt, lingering any longer was bound to raise suspicion. _And yet._ Annie moved away from the window, back to her perch in the shadows, and balled one of her hands into a fist.

_I want you to treat this whole world as your enemy._

Laughter. Those kids playing tag, running around every which way and that, behind houses and in front of them. Through other refugees and from each other. One of them the monster and all the others fleeing villagers not wanting to be devoured. She gripped at her shirt and felt sweat run down her back. Peering around the corner of the alley, one of them caught her eye. With a big hand, he reached out and grabbed one of the smaller kids by the back of his collar and lifted him. The monster, the devoured. There he was, horse-playing around as if what they did never even occurred to him. Never even registered in his brain, his laughter drowning out his guilt. Back in the darkness, Annie slid down the wall and brought her knees to her chest. Clenching her teeth, fingers tightened around her legs like a snake coils around its prey, she felt it. Something coming up from her stomach. Acidic, vile, putrid. Up her throat, trying to escape. Swallowing, sweat sticking to her shirt, she knew what they did couldn't be dismissed with laughter. Only screams.

As she lay there, morning passing to evening, laughter was replaced by a thundering rumble. A thousand footsteps, marching past her in the street. All of them moving towards Trost's central courtyard, where the distribution of rations was starting. Her stomach hurt, but she forced herself to her feet. No matter how she felt, it wasn't over yet. She wasn't dead yet. She couldn't just submit to them yet. Her body moved on its own, mingling into the mass of refugees as they all shared a single thought. _Survival._

In single file, they lined up in front of booths where members of the Military Police handed out one loaf per person. As she was handed her piece there was a scuffle next to her. Two petty people fighting over the last loaf their booth had, each claiming they needed it more than the other.

People like that, weak people such as them, were the result of what they'd done. Broken bodies and minds, vying for scrapes like rats in the sewers that ran underneath each District. Narrowing her brow, she ripped off a large chunk of her loaf and chewed. Scum like those two, they were what should vanish from the world. Not her, not the others, not the Titans. These _pieces of filth_ were what needed to go. That was why she'd agreed to it in the first place, hadn't she? Rid the world of their disease. Her eyes hardened and she didn't let any tears fall. A disease she'd contributed to spreading. Something that could only be cured with screams.

The two men were now going at one another physically, their blood dripping onto the cobbles of the courtyard, their rage washing away reason and any notion of compromising. Bystanders gave them a wide berth as they tried to render one other a mess, an unkempt stain on the ground that would be cleaned later and tossed over the Wall, to the waiting mouths of the Titans.

Annie didn't care anymore, even when two members of the Garrison became involved. Yes, these kinds of people were the reason she helped those two. She wanted to rid the world of scum like herself. Grasping at her shirt again, feeling the beating of her dark heart, the black blood coursing through her veins. Yes, what they did could only be punished with screams.

_Even if the whole world curses and resents you._

"Say, you going to finish the rest of that?"

Spinning around, she came face to face with a boy, his bright green eyes smiling, a finger pointed at what remained of her loaf of bread. She scowled at him, "You look healthy, you don't need it."

The boy scratched the back of his head and laughed. "Just kidding!"

Fools like this kid and those men, she didn't want to be in the same space as their ilk. She turned away from him and focused her attention on the members of the Garrison filing out the refugees until the rations were to be replenished the next day. She could still feel the boy's gaze on her.

"Are you joining too?" he asked after a moment of silence.

The military. The saviors of humanity's struggle against the Titans. She didn't deserve to be one. Looking over in the direction of the house Achi was staying in, she frowned. "No, I... I'm..." _Though._ She promised she'd return one day, to her father. No matter what happened, no matter what she had to do to get there. Even if she were scum herself. She balled one of her hands into a fist again. Her struggle wasn't over, and thus, neither was her role as a warrior. "What must you do in order to qualify?"

_Promise me you'll come back._


	4. Toll

**|V. Toll**

"Stop, you little brat!" The shop keeper struggled to keep up as his husky body couldn't take the physical exertion he was pushing on his flabby limbs as he continued to pursue the thief down the street. The thief ducked into an alleyway and he paused to catch his breath. The alley was dark and he couldn't see anything in the moonlight. He huffed his disgust and simply limped back to his shop, content that he could get a new shipment of the item the thief stole faster than they could steal them.

Ymir pulled her hood tighter around her face as she hastily walked down the alleyway. She looked down at the trinket wrapped in cloth and frowned as a rat scurried by her foot. "Piece of junk." She tossed it the trinket with a scowl. It shattered into a million pieces and scattering in just as many directions.

"If you weren't going to keep that, you should have given it to us." Behind her was a scruffy looking brute and his three followers; two on the right and one on the left. They looked as unkempt and poor as the rat.

Ymir slide a hand into her pocket as she went between the four of them, "What would you lot have done with it?" Her fingers grasped one of the stones she used for self defense. "Sold it?"

The man smiled. "Why, yes, that's exactly what we would have done, if only," he shrugged motioned for one of his lackeys to pick up a piece of the trinket and hand it over, "you hadn't done this." He threw it carelessly behind his back. "But it's nothing — there's always more to steal." He rubbed his chin, eyes going up and down her body. "In fact, you look capable enough, girl, so why don't you join us?" Ymir saw that his teeth had gaps. It disgusted her.

"You mean _'me'_, _'why don't you join 'me'_, not _'us'_." Ymir replied as she held the stone tighter. "You turds are some of the lowest of the low and I don't acknowledge shit."

The man's face contorted and he licked his lips. "And what does that make you? Don't think we're any different. This town is full of wealthy snobs who don't bat eyelashes at people like you and us, so shouldn't we work together to change that?"

Ymir noticed his sleeves had blood stains on them and smiled halfheartedly. "No, I'm not so low that I'd kill people to get what I want, unlike shit like you. I'm just in it to survive — I borrow, not take away. Shit like you guys who commit murder aren't the same, don't act like you are."

"We're only trying to survive too — don't you see that?"

"I see pieces of shit, nothing else. Murderers without a purpose other than to survive. Can't you think of better ways than killing? That's right, shit can't do anything other than stink up whatever they're near. Things that needed to be disposed of with the rest of the trash."

"I'm not going to take that from you! You think just because we kill people and you don't that you're better, that you're not trash too?! In this world, where the wealthy take more lives than we possibly even could with their lifestyles? Safe from bandits, safe from the dangers of the Outer Walls, from Titans? Do you honestly think you're not the same as us?" he argued as he stepped forward in the flurry of his rant, "Well, tough reality, girl, but you are! Even if you aren't a murderer, you're still trash like the rest of us! As long as all of us are here, that's all we'll ever be!" He raised his hands to the sky and drew a dagger across his tongue and smiled again. He went straight for the center of her chest. "You should have accepted my offer bi—!" His vulgar language fell short when her stone snapped his head back. He cursed and reached for his bleeding nose, doubled over, the cartilage of his nose twisted at an unnatural angle as he tried to move it back into its original position of his face and sneezed out more blood. He seethed and screamed for his lackeys to kill her.

Ymir ran around a corner of the alley as his lackeys gave chase, rounding another corner that led out of the alleyway and into a crowd of walking passerbys, ramming into them to further the confusion. She searched for any viable hiding place and came upon another church like the one she'd sheltered in a few months prior and bolted for the entrance, thrusting open the doors and diving under one of the windows that looked out. No one. She turned from the window with a smirk.

The church was bigger and more extravagant looking that the one she'd been in previously, no dust or in the slightest bit decrepit. There weren't any statues or crosses along the walls like the other, and there were no statues of angels near the altar behind the podium. Instead, there was only one. A statue of some monster that murderer had mentioned: a Titan. The part of her she wanted to forget. Ominous in appearance. A disproportional body, black eyes, large teeth. A mockery of human anatomy. A church with a Titan as the centerpiece.

She'd heard talk about a bunch of lunatic fanatics that worshiped the Walls or some nonsense like that, but she didn't think she'd actually stumble upon one of their places of worship. She spat her disgust on the floor and approached the altar slowly. The Wall Cult, just as bad as any other religion. _Complete and utter bullshit._ She cringed and looked away toward the ceiling. Very high up, with beautifully crafted murals and artwork displayed, and, to her, useless fancy trappings that held no value. While broodingly condemning the paintings that were on the ceiling, the doors to the church creaked open and she huddled behind the podium, partially out of instinct. Partially out of habit. She had forgotten the possibility of others coming in and, upon hearing footsteps, held her breath.

"But, she's been born out of the wedlock! She can't possibly be the heiress because of that! A bastard child!" a man huffed, his voice tight and hushed, the matter he was discussing no doubt a secret affair. "The family isn't going to accept her as—!"

"I know! But there's nothing we can do about it. We can only hope that this is somehow overlooked," another man retorted, easily the calmer of the two.

"But, it can't be unless she were killed! Maybe they should have killed her as soon as she was born so this whole fiasco didn't evolve in the first place!"

"No, that would've been too rash. She is a blood relative, after all. Simply killing her isn't the way to go about it. Driving her out worked in our favor and... for her sake as well..." The calmer man sighed and started to walk back to the entrance. "Come, we'll discuss this further in my chambers — away from any prying eyes that may overhear us in public."

Ymir waited after the door had shut and eased out from her hiding place. Politics and family feuds — neither of which she wanted to be a part of. Yet, this girl they were talking about, she was oddly compelled to see her. If nothing else, to see the outcome. Ymir smiled wickedly, maybe she could even use this girl to her advantage. Even if she was a bastard and out of the wedlock, the girl was still a blood member of their family, wasn't she? That in itself meant something, and she now had a new goal in her live of borrowing. Wanting to change, wanting to be different from the monster she had been — she doubted for a split second if she couldn't in fact shake off that side of herself, then freed herself of the thought and gazed up at the statue of the Titan again. No, she wouldn't go back to the way she'd been, she'd just be a different Ymir altogether, one who only lives for herself and nobody else.

**—-—-—**

Recruitment centers in the town were scarcely occupied as nobody in the Inner Wall would ever volunteer for the military. It was beneath them to fend for their homes and protect what is theirs — better to leave it to the lesser non-important people. Poorer people. Ymir gripped at the sleeves of her jacket as she leaned against the entrance to one of them. From tips and bribes, she'd gotten wind that if anyone in Wall Sina wanted to join the military, they'd want the center farthest from the center. She tapped her boot on the stone paved ground. It made sense that anyone who didn't want to be spotted doing something considered "unbecoming", like joining the military, would do it with a lot of people around, where they're the most likely to get recognized by someone or other. She crossed her arms and she kicked the wall behind her. It was taking too long, she'd already been standing for two whole hours, the girl still nowhere in sight. Ymir scanned the people who passed by for anyone who looked to be on the run from their family. If the girl was smart, she'd already have escaped her home and be on the way to a recruitment center, and, Ymir hoped, was preferably this one. She continued to scan the crowd as she went over the girl's description in her head.

Her name was unknown — at least, Ymir didn't know her name. Rather short for her age, blonde hair, considered to be "absolutely gorgeous". When she had heard that little detail, she'd wanted to throw up right on the spot, but at least it was better than "hideously ugly". Finding a midget with blonde hair and a pretty face was going to be too easy for her. She spotted a rather short hooded figure walking out, almost suspiciously, from the crowd of others going by. Yeah, way too easy. Ymir stuck her foot out and the short hooded figure yelped, tripping. People in the crowd looked over to see what the matter was and went back to what they were doing as soon as they saw the figure on the ground — it wasn't their problem.

"Need help?" Ymir asked, arms still crossed. An indistinguishable grunt and she lifted.

"Thank you for your assistance," the hooded figure said as she removed her hood and smiled awkwardly. Soft blue eyes, blonde hair reaching down to her shoulders. "I'm grateful."

Ymir pointed over her shoulder. "Is this where you were going?"

"I was..." The girl blinked. "How did you know, are you going there as well?"

"Something like that," Ymir replied. "You got a name?"

"Oh! I'm sorry! I never introduced myself, did I!?" the girl exclaimed and turned as red as the hue of the sun shining above them. "I'm..." she put a finger on the side of her cheek and looked away for a moment. "Krista..."

Ymir blinked this time. _She wasn't one of those stupid blondes, was she?_ It's not like she was complaining — it made her job easier. "Ymir."

Krista held out her hand in an offer of acceptance. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ymir."

"Yeah, likewise." Ymir glanced around again.

"Erm, may I ask what it is you are looking around for?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. So, you're wanting to join the military, hah?"

"I... yes... I'm looking to join the military... What are you—!" Ymir grabbed her wrist and ran at full speed away from the recruitment center. Krista turned to look back — four people were running after them. She turned back to Ymir and shouted, "Ymir, there're people w—!"

"Just hold on and keep up!" the taller girl shouted back. She dived into an alleyway, but it was a dead end. Nowhere to run. She pushed Krista behind her. "Stay low, these guys are dangerous." Really, they weren't, but saying so would increase Krista's admiration of her and she could always use that. She grinned — now she'd be able to get rid of two birds with one stone! The murderer with the crooked nose and his three lackeys blocked the alleyway and approached them slowly.

"Hey there, girl. We've finally found you." He held up his knife and brandished it for them to see. "You know, we've been looking all over for you." His grin turned into a scowl. "Oh? And who's this? You've gotten yourself a little friend? A shrew and her tiny mouse — ain't that something!" His lackeys laughed with him and Ymir cringed from being reminded of that Titan back at the church. It'd been better-looking. She felt Krista's hand grip hers tightly and fixed the man with scornful eyes.

"You piece of shit, what do you want now? Let me guess, _another_ broken nose?" She had to deal with this trash quickly and efficiently, there was no time to waste. "How about I give your more gaps between your teeth?"

"Hey, I-I don't think..."

"What was that, you bitch?" the man growled. "Still haven't learned your lesson from last time? I already told you that we're all—"

She felt Krista freeze, eyes wide. "Yeah, sure, whatever." Ymir interrupted, not wanting to hear his voice anymore. "We're all the same and it sucks to be alive, right? I don't care about your problems, you piece of shit — you're bothering me."

"You fucking bitch, I'll—!"

She flung a rock at his face again, and as he was clutched his lip shot three more at his lackeys. Delirious and in pain from the sudden attack, they were unable to stop Ymir from plowing into them and escaping.

Ducking down a side street, Ymir looked down to see how the girl was doing. No change in facial expression whatsoever, aloof.

"That was a close one!" Krista exclaimed after a moment, then grinned when she looked at her. "You're a really great person, you know that? The way you dealt with those thugs and saved us both! I—!"

"It was nothing," Ymir grumbled as she looked away. "They weren't any trouble." She looked back down again. Krista's small hand was there.

"I'm Krista Lenz." The short girl smiled widely, her eyes beaming brightly.

"I'm... Ymir..." She accepted the handshake and rubbed her fingers afterward.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ymir!"

Looking away, Ymir huffed. "_Likewise..._"


	5. Feelings

**V. Feelings**

Humidity.

The sun was scorching the ground beneath the trainee's feet as they stood in their respective rows facing one another and awaited for the Chief Instructor to pass them by.

To finally be able to breathe easy again.

Standing as still as she could, as straight as she could, Annie Leonhart ignored the people in her field of vision, instead focusing briefly on her uniform.

Their uniforms were a type of light brown, khaki-colored jacket that stopped midway to their waist. Two pouches were located on either side of the front, where down the middle it opened up. On the left-hand pouch, as well as the jacket's shoulders, was the patch of 104th's designated emblem, a shield crossed over by two swords. The swords resembling the standard issue blades used to combat Titans. A dark brown sash covered her waist, over white pants with knee-high leather boots.

Annie looked up, now watching the Chief Instructor get in trainees' faces, asking for their name and where they were from, and telling them and their row to turn around if he didn't like their answers. Keeping her eyes on his bald head, the way it reflected the light from the sun overhead and his scraggly beard with little specks of grey, she wondered if all previous commanders of the Scouting Legion — or any branch of the military — became the Chief Instructor for the next batch of trainees.

The next batch of lambs to the slaughter. _  
_

She blinked. That boy she'd met in Trost, the Chief Instructor was coming over to him next. The wide grin on his face, it was one of the most stupid things she'd ever seen.

"You with the idiotic face! Who are you and where are you from!?"

The boy saluted with his fist over the left side of his chest, where his heart resided. The military's universal salute, which signified its loyalty to the people, and that it carried each and every one of their hopes and dreams to victory against the Titan threat.

"Sir! Friedrich Brandt, Trost District!"

The Chief Instructor loomed over him, leaning down further. "Brandt, you said?!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Well, Brandt, let's hope you're not a disappointment to the two who came before you!" The Chief Instructor leaned up again. "Why are you here?!"

"To see my older sister sir!"

"Well, when you even get a fraction of the talent your sister has, then you can act as Titan-bait for her! Row eight! About face!"

The Chief Instructor grasp the top of the boy's head and forcibly spun him around, the others in his row following suit. This was the sign that he didn't like what he heard, and, with the majority of the trainee rows also turned in the opposite direction from their original positions, the man didn't seem to like much. He went on to the next trainee, and then the next.

A few of them he passed, herself being one of them, and she'd noticed when it'd happened to her that he'd been focused on her eyes. The horror that was hidden behind them. The look that told him she'd already seen what needed to be seen. Loss of life, blood upon the streets. The Titans. Death.

Annie glanced back at the boy, Friedrich Brandt, and saw that his eyes; they were like her own. And, yet, weren't. Hers a clear blue, his a bright green. His held something that she herself knew all too well.

_A promise._

No, she couldn't think about this boy any longer, he was unimportant. He'd just been there to help her fill out her form and get admitted into the training corps. Whether he had a promise of his own to fulfill or not— it didn't matter to her.

She focused back on the Chief Instructor as he picked up a short, shaved headed boy by the sides of his face for not saluting properly. Abruptly, the Chief Instructor dropped the shaved headed boy, Connie Springer, and went to a ponytailed girl, who was busy stuffing her face with a potato. He asked her where she'd acquired it and she replied that she'd "procured" it from the messhall. He then asked her why she'd stolen it in the first place, and why a potato. The girl, Sasha Blouse, offered him what she considered to be half of it.

To Annie, and everyone else watching, it was obvious the piece she was offering wasn't even close to half. On top of that, she'd given him the smaller of the two pieces.

After the opening ceremony, the Chief Instructor gave them free reign inside the confines of the area, where they were allowed to either hang around in their dorms or wait for dinner in the messhall.

Annie was watching the girl who was now being called "Potato Girl" because of her actions during the opening ceremony finish her first lap around the practice field. The way she ran— like a fish straight out the water, flopping her arms around carelessly. The least she could do was use form.

"How long do you think he's going to make her run?"

Annie turned. The boy, Friedrich, was standing next to the stairs of her dorm. The grin seemed to be plastered onto his face.

She turned back to the wooden railing, "Didn't you hear Shardis?" Out of the corner of her eye, the boy shook his head.

"I guess I wasn't paying much attention," he said with an embarrassed chuckle.

"The rest of the day."

He came beside her then, looking down at the Potato Girl as she ran. "Harsh, don't you think so?" When she didn't respond, he put a hand under his chin, leaned over the railing, and pouted, a concerned look in his eyes. "I guess that's the way the world truly works, huh?"

She looked over then. _His eyes… they were similar to…_

"Say, I think I deserve a thank-you for helping you fill out those papers."

She looked away again. "You didn't do anything."

"I—"

"Told me to fill out _'big nose'_ for my name and _'center of my face, you can't miss it'_ for my residence."

"You don't have to glare at me like that! I was only joking!" He held up a hand and smiled. "Your nose isn't even that big! It's the perfect size, I really like the shape!" He looked to the side and stared at the ground. "Honest…" He went back to her, "Hey, you still haven't—!"

"The way you grin is stupid."

"Is that… supposed to be a thank-you?"

She grimaced. She didn't want to be reminded of her, she couldn't even remember what she looked like anymore. Why… why did this boy remind her of her mother? Someone who was always… always so…

"Annie?"

_Annie, dear, your father loves you. I know it may not seem like it, but deep down, he really, truly does. With all his heart._

"Annie! Are you listening to me?"

"Leave me alone," she shot back, tightening a fist at her side. She didn't—

"Sorry, I… just… wanted a thank-you…"

_Always remember that no matter what he may seem like, that on the inside he cares for you very much. That… with all his heart… he'd never abandon you. Just like I wouldn't. So…_

"I won't bother you anymore, then, alright?" the boy said, shuffling his feet as he turned to take his leave down the stairs.

_Don't…_

"Wait…"

"Huh?"

_Resent him for the things he's done and that he'll do._

She relaxed her fist. "T-thank you…"

"Fritz. Call me Fritz." He smiled.

"Fritz."

"So, erm," he wiped his nose with a finger and sniffed, "does this mean we're friends now?"

Annie stared at him for a few moments, then at the railing. "I guess…" She noticed him grin and scowled. "Only if you knock that off first…"

"Right!" He came beside her again and stared at the sky, smiling.

She scooted away. "And don't stand so close to me."

"S-sorry…" He laughed, scratching the back of his head.

"As long as we're clear."

"No problems there."

Annie groaned. This boy was going to be a nuisance, she knew it the moment he'd asked for her bread back then. Now, he was searching the clouds for something, and the way his eyes moved back and forth…

No, she had to ignore him. Her promise, she had to— he said something about finding her again. His sister. His promise.

Yes, she had to make as little contact as she was still able with this boy… and… yet…

**—-—-—**

"These are the potatoes that girl stole?!"

Fritz sank his teeth into his second helping, sitting across from her in the messhall. The sound of him vigorously chewing, swallowing, and swishing it down with a side of water was the last thing she wanted to hear while trying to eat. The potato — it was undercooked and very bland in taste, the color a sort of mucky yellow without its outer skin. She looked at her glass of water as she set it down on her tray, the ripples on its surface from how hard the boy across from her was eating. It's like he hadn't eaten in a matter of days.

Trying her best to ignore him, Annie looked over at the messhall kitchens, outside of which there was a serving line with the trays on the far left side. The menu also included soup and bread, but one look at either and she'd rather have the potato. Taking her glass, she finished the rest.

"You're not going to eat?" Fritz asked, wiping his face free of potato. He put his hand on the table. "You have to eat if you want to keep your strength up, even if the food is bad."

"We're starting 3D-Gear training tomorrow. I don't want to throw up during it."

"Then…"

"Take it." She pushed her tray towards him, which he gladly accepted, starting on the potato first.

Annie took the opportunity to look around the room. The majority of the trainees were gathered around one table, and she heard them talking about the Titans. At the table sat a boy with a cocky expression of his face, saying how he'll send all the Titans to hell starting with the Colossal Titan. She moved on from the fool and his listeners, eyes going to another table where three girls were sitting. Two of them she didn't know, though she'd seen the tall one with dark skin at the opening ceremony. The third was Achi, hazel eyes focused on her wooden spoon submerged in her bowl of soup. One of the girls, the one with the blonde hair and pleasant features, was trying to talk to her, holding what looked to be a half loaf of bread.

_Make sure you keep her safe, Annie. Even if it means—_

Her attention was turned back to the table with the cocky boy and his listeners from how loud it'd gotten, now another boy, equally as annoying, mocking his decision to join the Scouting Legion, and saying that he was more likely to become fodder for the Titans than anything else. The other boy said something in retort, both of them standing to their feet and looking about ready to come to blows when the bell rang, signifying the end of dinner.

All trainees were to immediately leave the messhall and head back to their dorms, sleep, and then be up for 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear training first thing the next morning.

Without waiting for her new friend, Annie got from the table and left the messhall, not stopping when she heard him run up to the messhall doors and shout _"good luck tomorrow!"_ after her, no doubt grinning like the idiot he was.

She sighed. Achi hadn't looked… alive. Cold. Dead, like a corpse. The other had probably been trying to cheer her up to no avail. There was no doubt in her mind that Achi resented her for what she did, and yet, there had been no other option back then. Or else… Or else she would've found out. Found out what she was.

A monster.

And, she didn't want to cause Achi anymore suffering other than what's already happened to her. To them both. At the door to her dorm now, she knew that if she let her emotions get the best of her, the mission her father had given her would be for naught.

_Find the Coordinate, don't let anyone, even another like yourself, survive if they have it. It's extremely important that you destroy it. No, you don't need to know the details as to why, just that it's something dangerous and mustn't be allowed to exist. Can you do this for me, Annie?_

Getting into her bunk, Annie stared at the bed above her own, her bunkmate not having arrived yet.

Mina Carolina.

She frowned. This girl, Mina, was the type she disliked the most. Worse than Fritz — happy behind her eyes. Sitting up, she grasped at her bedsheets and clenched her teeth, grinding them together. People like her…

"_I got it, Annie!" Achi exclaimed, pig-tails bobbing up and down as she struggled to carry the bucket of water from the mountain's basin. Cheeks puffy and red, she was straining herself._

"_Give me it," she retorted, trying to wrestle it from her much thinner arms. Achi pushed her away and stuck out her tongue._

"_I said I got it!" she huffed, putting on a pained smile as she slowly made her way down the hill towards the village. She was practically dragging it in the dirt._

"_You're going to get splinters carrying it like that!"_

"_So what?!" _

_Annie watched as her slide down the hill, the bucket obviously too heavy for her small frame, and hurried after her. She caught up just as Achi made it to the bottom, the bucket laying on its side, the water spilled all over, her best friend staring at her injuries, flinching when she peeled a piece of skin away from a palm. Blood trickled down her fingertips, dripping onto the now wet ground beneath her feet._

"_I'm fine…" she said under her breath, bending over to pick the bucket up._

_Annie took it from her. "I'm carrying it back."_

"_But I can—!"_

"_Follow behind me."_

_Achi looked back at the hill, the mountain above it, where the basin was locationed just at its bottom, and when she turned back stuck out her tongue again. "Next time I'm doing it by myself! I'll show you!"_

_Staring at the blood that came off her hand from the bucket's handle, Annie looked at her best friend and blinked. Achi glared back, then made a face as Annie touched her bloody fingers to her cheek, smearing it._

"_What was that for?!" She wiped her cheek. "Don't just—!"_

"_You're a real warrior now."_

"_Huh?"_

_Looking down into the bucket as she carried it, Annie thought she saw some water down at the bottom. Mucky and green from whatever was on the ground, but still there. _

"_You're strong, Achi."_

_Achi scowled. "Then what does that make you?! You're the one who's always— oaf!" She rubbed her forehead, bumping into Annie's backside. "Hey! Watch it! Hey, Annie!" She came around and stopped upon seeing the look in her eyes. Terror and… something else… "Annie…?" She followed her friend's eyes and saw it too._

_Smoke._

She could never be one.

**—-—-—**

Suspended in mid-air, Annie swayed in her harness, balancing just as the Chief Instructor had explained— dangling above the ground as still as possible. The less quivering, the better.

Looking up at the device that held her in place, a simple three prong stand, she watched the ropes that were tethered to the top tighten further then relax as she was lifted down, where she then unhooked the other end of the ropes secured to her belt, swatting them away as they now hung lazily, loose and ready for the next occupant.

In front of her were the rest of the trainees, all five hundred or so of them. Clumped together in a mass, each of them was waiting for their turn, the ones who've already completed the exercise having to wait on the sidelines. Glaring at them, she noticed a couple glared back, most notably that tall girl that'd been at the table along with Achi. Achi herself was nowhere to be seen, and she felt that was for the best. Anyone that didn't glare back was either too busy on worrying about the exercise, didn't meet her eyes, or… smiled back. The boy, Fritz, and the girl, Mina, were the main culprits. Ignoring them, she moved to the sidelines and stood next to a girl with a red scarf around her neck.

Betraying her better judgment, she caught sight of the two smiling idiots talking with one another, no doubt about her.

Just what she needed.

The girl next to her said something under her breath and she thought it was "Eren", casting an eye on her then. Her features were… unlike any she'd ever seen. Strange. Foreign. Not like the majority of the others here, and, now that she thought about it, the tall girl's as well. And, yet, she couldn't tell for certain what it really was. The structure of their face? Their eyes?

Turning her attention instead to what the girl was looking at, she suppressed her anger. The cocky boy from back then was hanging upside down in his harness, dangling with a surprised look on his face. People like him, the ones who think they're better than what they truly are revealed, were scum. Weak. Every single one of them. Pieces of filth, disease to the world. Like herself.

And only scum had the right to do away with others like themselves.

_The monsters. They were swarming the village. Gigantic, terrifying, and bloodthirsty. The wooden houses that took many generations to build and make comfortable to live in were in reduced to ruins, smoke rising from the embers as she and Achi looked on, seeing villagers getting snatched up and eaten. The sky rained blood._

"_W-what do we do?!" Achi screamed, grabbing her and shaking. Tears were streaming down her eyes. "Annie!"_

"_The house…"_

"_What?!"_

"_My father's house! It's on the outskirts of the village, we have to make a run for it!" Annie grabbed her friend's wrist and ran back through towards the hill, glancing back to make sure nothing was following them. Turning abruptly, she ran along the edge of the village, not stopping for anyone's cries of help and especially not for the Titan's growls of hunger. Being practically dragged along, Achi was struggling to free herself from her grasp._

"_Annie! Wait! What about my dad, he's—!"_

"_No time! Achi, I'm sorry, we—!" She was knocked down, Achi smacking her head repeatedly. Annie turned over and felt her friend's tears hitting her cheeks, one after another. _

"_We can't just leave him! He's my dad! We can't… just…" She bowed her head and sobbed, eyes vacant. "Dad..."_

"_Achi…"_

"_Promise me… you'll stay by me… don't leave me. Don't leave me Annie!" Achi grabbed her, still sobbing, ignoring the death and destruction quickly growing around them. "I… don't leave me!"_

"_I… promise…"_

_Achi smiled through her tears and got off her, helping her up. Her demeanor changed almost immediately, turning from one of sorrow of what was likely the inevitable into one of hope for what lay ahead of them. _

_She was putting her faith in her best friend's hands._

**—-—-—**

Annie stared up the length of the cliffside they were required to climb in pairs, a great deal less than the fifty meters of either of the three Walls, but still a formidable challenge. She turned to her partner, the boy Fritz. He'd insisted and she had no choice but to agree, with the short amount of preparation time they'd been given for the exercise.

"I'll go first, keep pace with me and we'll both be fine."

He nodded. "Right."

It'd been only a week since they'd started, but they'd already gone over the fundamentals of the 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear and its uses.

Great physical strength was required to be able to use them, especially in the lower half of the body, where the majority of the equipment was situated. The equipment itself consisted of a harness that went around the shoulders, chest, abdominal's, down to feet, and all of which met at the waist, where the 3-Dimensional Gear was situated. The device itself is tricky to operate, and thus, they were now out here to condition themselves for it.

Simple, and very intensive, physical training.

Annie made sure her harness was secure before they were set to begin the climb, looking over at the piles of hay that were to serve as their cushions, if either of them were to fall. If one of them fell, they'd have to do it over from the beginning. There could be no mistakes. She turned back to Fritz after another check and saw him doing the same. Both of them were ready, and, she had to admit that behind that idiotic nature of his was a strong determination. Very.

She glanced around; the other pairs were prepping themselves as well. A line was drawn in the dirt in front of their feet, signifying the start point. At the top of the cliff was Chief Instructor Shardis and two other advisors, his hands clasped behind his back and bald head still reflecting the sun's light. He inhaled.

"Each pair has exactly twenty minutes to scale the cliff and make it to the top. If you can't make it to the top, you must start over! The first pair to reach the top will be receive the most points toward their overall score, and the last will naturally receive the least! Remember, each point towards your score means the one step further you are to getting into the top ten!"

Before long, he was shouting down at them to begin.

She rushed for the wall, Fritz beside her all the way.

Touching surface, she caught a foothold and started her way up. Anywhere she could get another foothold she took the opportunity, noticing the further up the looser the sediment, meaning the more chance for slips-up and if one wasn't careful enough, their inevitable plummet to the piles of hay stacks below. Briefly looking down, she saw Fritz just a few footholds behind her, to the right side. He was moving too slow— some of the other pairs were already ahead.

"Hurry up!" she yelled down as she kept climbing.

"I am!" He yelled back, anger stretched across his sweaty features. He seemed to be locked there. "It's only… I… No… don't worry about me…!" Something passed over his eyes and she understood the look. It was similar to Achi's back then. His resolve. Quickly, he managed to close the gap between them. "Keep going!"

She nodded, and after a few more minutes of climbing, was nearly to the top, when she felt something was terribly wrong. The rocks were the loosest here, and even one slight mistake meant failure. Sweat dripping down her forehead, her brow, her cheeks, everywhere on her body, she knew she couldn't let that stop her. It wouldn't stop her.

Yet, the same couldn't be said for her partner.

She heard him grunt, having pierced a hand on one of the more jagged rocks and looked down again. He was trying to climb with the injury despite the further exertion needed. Pained, blood licked footholds were left in his wake and, then, she saw it…

He'd missed one of firmer footholds, reaching for one of the looser ones. And, with his injured hand…

"Don't!"

Too late; the moment his bloody hand grasped the rock, it crumbled and he slide slightly, catching himself. Holding on with one hand, he was lifting the other up when she'd grasped his forearm.

"Don't be so reckless! If you fall we start over!" She used what strength she dared to muster to pull him up just a bit further, the blood from his injury making the task difficult. Slippery.

"I can make it the rest of the way! Let go!"

"No, you can't! The further up you go the harder it is! And you're already at your limit!"

"My limit?!" Fritz scowled. "Not even close!"

His free hand grasped another foothold and she was forced to let go of the other. Then, she thought she saw something that shouldn't be possible, that shouldn't happen to anything other than a Titan. The wound to his hand had already healed itself, and then, she realized: _when?_

Fritz hadn't even realized it, and still didn't as he went to yet another foothold and was now right beside her on the cliffside, his smile returned.

_How?_

The only explanation was that he was like her and her eyes narrowed. She remembered her father's instructions, but bit her lip and held back from doing anything. Her instructions didn't say that if there was another like her or the other two, that she should eliminate them. No, she needed to wait it out and see where his allegiances laid. Yet, she doubted Fritz even knew he was the same as them.

She had to keep it that way.

"Then if you think you can keep up," she leapt up to a further foothold and looked back down, "then do so!"

"Watch me!"

And before long, they were at the top, heaving and gasping for breath. Hand against a tree, Annie looked over at him again. Friedrich Brandt. Fritz. He was staring at his previously injured hand, at the blood that was no longer there.

The possibility of him being like her was high, but there had been no exhaustion of steam from either the wound or his blood. So… maybe… he was something entirely different.

Maybe he wasn't a Shifter at all.

**—-—-—**

"The sole interest of the Titans is the eating of human beings," the instructor in charge of their more studious lessons, continued, "They have absolutely zero interest in anything else and if we consider that they've existed without eating humans for a hundred years since the Walls have been built, we can assume that they don't _need_ to eat." He looked down the book in his hands and then wrote something on the board behind him.

The word "exterminate".

"This means that the Titans' sole purpose is the eradication of the human race as a whole, which has been halted indefinitely by the building of the Walls. It does not stop them from still trying and ultimately succeeding, just as the case with Shinganshina with the Colossal and Armored Titans." He flipped a page. "And, for the information we've gathered, they are able to regenerate injuries, even re-grow their head if it's been blow off."

Someone raised their hand. "Does that mean they're unkillable?!"

"No, it does not." The instructor drew the head, neck, and shoulders of a humanoid, then proceeded to circle the space between where the neck connected the shoulders. The nape of the neck. "Major injury to the nape of the neck has been confirmed to effectively kill a Titan. For that purpose, you trainees are going through this training to use the 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear properly." He went down to one of the disassembled devices laid out on a table in front.

Annie's focus was on the blade which served as their primary weapon against the Titans. It was made for flexibility, forged to be as sturdy as possible, but she wondered if it would be any use against human enemies. Watching the instructor demonstrate its reliability by swinging it this way and that, she assumed the answer was yes.

Later, hands on one of these Titan-killing blades, she gripped the handle and looked ahead at Fritz.

The Coordinate was someone who could control a Titan at will, as a human. Yet, just because his regeneration ability was unlike that of a Titan's or her own, didn't mean he was it. It just meant he was different, somehow. Whatever it was, she had to be cautious. She couldn't let her guard down, and yet, Fritz himself was unaware of it, and he hadn't said anything that sounded like symptoms from that time. In fact, he was more cheerful and even _more_ of a grinning fool than before. If that was even possible.

Right now, he was conversing with Mina. Again.

If it was about her, she couldn't tell, but she knew that if they didn't practice their drills like everyone else, the Chief Instructor would make their next moments a living hell. The drills were just simple motions with the equipment. Getting them used to the weight and feel.

The two of them— _no, she shouldn't concerned with fools like the two of them._ Instead, she turned her attention to the others on the practice field, watching them go through their motions. Most were just walking around with it on or doing simple stances, but one caught her eye. It was the girl with the red scarf.

Annie now knew her name as Mikasa Ackerman. Beside her was the cocky boy, Eren Yeager, and the other one, Armin Arlert. The three of them always seemed to be together. It made her sick. Just looking at them together. Friends.

Turning her attention then to Achi, she went over the other two girls' names in her head. Ymir… no last name; the tall girl. The other, Krista Lenz, the blonde one who'd spoken to Achi on that first night. The three of them had become friends already, and she felt something in her heart collapse. She couldn't bear to look at either group and went back to Fritz and Mina. A group of three…

Friends…

"Annie," a masculine voice called out to her. Reiner Braun. She felt him bend down to get near her ear. "You're still going to help us, right?"

Staring at Fritz and Mina, who seemed so far away now, Reiner's shadow looming over her and drowning her in its darkness, she responded, "Tonight."

"Remember, anything about _it_ is of top priority."

"I know." She wanted to knock him to the ground, but now wasn't the time. Just his existence, it irritated her. No, it wasn't Reiner himself, but his attitude towards the situation. What they'd done back then. How it didn't haunt him in the slightest.

"If you don't find anything, it's alright." This time it was Bertolt, standing behind him. "I doubt there's going to be anything valuable anyway…"

She moved away from Reiner's shadow and took a step towards Fritz and Mina. If only she wasn't scum. Wasn't already a disease, then…

And, abruptly, she stopped. "Reiner, Bertolt, I'll find something, don't bother me about it. Just go back to the exercise. You both look suspicious." Glaring at them until they left, she went back to Fritz and Mina, her glare turned on them.

_Why? _Why could he be so carefree, looking as happy as he did despite what laid behind his eyes? The regret, the musings, the darkness? The promise that he wanted to desperately fulfill?

What… what made him a _good_ person despite the evil that constantly grasped at his heart?

_She…_


	6. Handle

**V|. Handle**

A heavy rain fell onto the jagged rocks and gravel of the rugged terrain that the trainees were scaling. Midday, the sun a faint orange hue that overshadowed everything below its gaze. The dark forms of four trainees trudging together through the harsh conditions in a tightly knit group, each carrying a sack of equipment on their back and wearing a raincoat to keep dry, their boots muddied and ground slippery from leftover dew and heavily saturated soil. One of the trainees lost their footing and slipped onto the muddy ground, staring up at the dark clouds overhead. Drops of rain peppered her face violently as she lay there, and her black braids tickled her nose as she blinked dumbly. Another trainee crept over her and blocked out the rain that poured down and her gray eyes stared into the bright green eyes of her group member: _Friedrich Brandt._

"You okay, Mina?" He touched his uniform and when he removed his hand there was mud smeared across it.

"I slipped… Can you help me up?" She stretched out a hand and waited for him to take it. With his help, she was back on her feet and hefting her sack of equipment again. The pack, already heavy and cumbersome, was even more-so in the current weather conditions. She nodded. "Thanks."

Fritz nodded back. "Don't mention it," he replied, then cursed under his breath when he happened to glance down at his uniform as Mina laughed.

"Hey, what are you two doing? This isn't the time to stop and take a break! We're only halfway to the top, why the hell are you stopping?!" a voice called down. The two trainees looked over to see Eren waving at them as he came closer. They were impeding the group's steady progress. The girl who took up the rear had stopped too, forced to wait for them to continue. She was staring out at the rugged terrain around their location and stretched her arms with a groan. Eren pointed at the path ahead, covered with mud and hard dirt, barely recognizable anymore. "We have to get going!"

"Sorry!" the two of them apologized in unison. Fritz tried to wipe the mud off his uniform to no avail and Mina lowered her hood further to keep off the rain. Eren's eyes softened then.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Then, let's double the pace!" Eren said, then peered over Fritz and Mina's shoulders at the girl taking up the rear. "Achi, are you ready? We're going now!" The girl, Achi, looked over briefly and then went back to the terrain.

" Let's just get this over with." She sighed and turned. "This rain is getting worse and it's annoying the crap out of me." She touched her thumb to her other fingers and flexed them. "My shoulders are getting tired. So yeah, let's get going."

Eren nodded an understanding, then turned to take the lead again. They fell in line behind him.

Fritz adjusted the sack on his back for more comfort and sniffed again. The rain was getting to his senses. He'd never experienced rain like this back home in Trost. Experiencing something new. Again. Earlier in the day, Chief Instructor Shardis had paired them into groups of four and strapped a sack to each of their backs and ordered them to trek to the top of a hill located far from the training camp. Each group was a mix of different personalities to help them learn the value of teamwork and what it meant to work with other people that they may or may not agree with. Fritz wasn't sure if Shardis had picked right, as he and Eren were similar in their personalities.

The only other person he knew well within the group was Mina, but she was too focused on not slipping to be able to talk. That left the other girl, Achi, who reminded him of Annie when they'd first met, although shorter, smaller. Unsociable. She didn't even look like she belonged in the military — barely twelve years of age with a hairstyle reminding him of his little sister's own last he'd seen her. Though, one look at the girl's face dispelled any indication that she still held the innocence of a child like Sofie's; a haunted and dark expression painted from a past of torment and horror beneath frightening hazel eyes.

"Is staring at others a fetish for you?" Achi asked in an ice cold voice, as cold as the rain that hit his raincoat. "Thinking lucid thoughts?"

"No," he retorted. "I was thinking about the look on your face."

"What about it?" Achi sniveled and touched around her cheeks. "Something there?"

"It's not the type of look a child should have."

Achi let out an amused chuckle, then a disgusted low moan. Her eyes wandered to a disfigured cloud, the darkest one. Then, abruptly shooting her hand forward, she grabbed Fritz by the top of his uniform and pulled him to eye level. Her features were full of disdain, eyes drowning with contempt. "Are you _sure?_"

"Y-yeah, those really aren't the eyes of a child," he gasped softly and, when she pushed on his chest and knocked him back, frowned.

"I don't need your pity," she growled, fists clenched at her sides. "So _what_if I don't have the same eyes as all the little _brats _you see running around behind their mommies and daddies?"

"I'm sorry..." he replied, eyes downcast as he stared at his boots. "It's just when I look at you it reminds me of my little sister."

"_'I hope she doesn't end up like that when she's older'. _That's what you're thinking, isn't it?" Her voice became distant, "I don't need anyone's _damned _pity. Especially from someone like _you_."

"I—"

"It's fine, whatever... Just as long as we're clear, got it?"

"Got it."

"Good. Now," she glanced over his shoulder at Eren and Mina ahead of them, "Baldy said that today's training was _special_." She made quotations around the word "special". "He said that the fastest group to get to the top would be rewarded." She stomped a foot on the ground. "I think that's a load of crap. It's like saying out of the whole 104th Trainee Corps, only one is the best and everyone else is second rate." She moved her head to the side, as if to shake the rain off her hood. She sighed. "It's bullshit, but I want to get out of this rain so I shouldn't be complaining. Keep up with Eren and we'll get there in no time. Stay on pace with him, got it? I don't want to be out here anymore than necessary."

Fritz nodded slowly. "I got it..."

The rest of the trek was made in silence as the four of them finished to the top. Waiting there was Chief Instructor Shardis and a few of the other instructors. Behind the Chief Instructor was Wall Rose and he shouted that they'd wait for the rest of groups to make it before proceeding onward. Once the other groups finished, they were to start the trek again with the same groups back down the hill, towards Wall Rose this time. He explained that one of the border towns, called a District, was in the direction they were going and that was their true destination for the day. This news caused most of the trainees present to sigh in relief — they were finally getting a break.

"What's that look for?" Achi asked. It was like a blank mask.

Fritz replied without looking back. "I'm just... thinking about something... Say, do you know why your eyes are so... cold?" he asked softly, not expecting an answer.

"Does it matter?" She took a few steps and fixed him with an unreadable eye. "All that matters is how much trust you put in the person standing beside you. What they look like shouldn't matter." And with that, she left him to stand by himself and wonder what she had truly meant by her words.

**—-—-—**

Annie's head was tilted toward a certain angle —focused on one spot in particular. Twisting her father's single banded gold ring, legs dangling off the ledge of the District's only bell-tower, she stared at the Wall further away, in the direction of Shinganshina.

"Annie? What are you...?"

"Hey, what makes a person _good_to you?" she asked softly, one of her piercing blue eyes trained on his face as she waited for an answer, a jumbled mix of different feelings all vying to find answers that she herself couldn't find alone.

"Makes a person good?" he repeated the words as he looked away briefly and scratched his head. "Well, I don't really get what you're saying, but to me, what makes a person good is not what's in their heart or mind, but what they believe in and keep within themselves to live on. Everyone has their own idea of what a person should strive to be — or at least that's what my dad used to say." He looked upon her with a friendly face. "I think, if you're doing what you have to in order to survive, then..."

Annie blinked as the silence around them grew. After a moment, she opened her mouth to speak. "Doing what you have to in order to survive, huh?" She bit her lip gently and exhaled. She felt his hand gently touch her shoulder.

"We should get down, don't you think?" Fritz watched her stare at the District below, and thought of Achi's words.

_All that matters is how much trust you put in the person standing beside you._

He looked down at the District himself and thought of his family. After his sister's joining of the military before Maria's fall and the death of his father, his mother had tried her hardest to keep composed, the family having grown smaller in the blink of an eye. Then, the second oldest son, his older brother Lex, had went off to follow in their footsteps, only to die during a training accident before he even really began. That had been the last straw for his mother. She'd forbidden him to join the military like his father and two older siblings. Against her wishes, he'd run away from home to join of his own accord. He wanted to find Ines somehow, since she hadn't written them in recent years like she usually did, even in this time of strafe. The Titans, terrifying giants that had taken down Wall Maria and extinguished countless lives already. His older sister was at a greater risk than most because of these... _things._Tasked with reclaiming lost territory from them and gathering information about their movements, their tactics, and their origins. He didn't want to lose another of his siblings, and that was when… he'd met Annie Leonhart.

"Are you coming or not?" Annie asked behind him, her 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear already set to scale the tower, one long blonde bang cast over the right side of her face. "I thought you disliked the cold..."

He looked at her now. The looks in her eyes, they were the same as his. Each of them had made a promise they desperately wanted to fulfill. He wondered what hers was, and, if anything, he could come to learn the real Annie in what year of training they had left.

**—-—-—**

Ymir pulled the scarf she wore further up around her mouth and sniffed the air. Wet wood and charcoal. Her boots were knee deep in snow and one of the last things she wanted was more of it since that time four years prior.

Her attention went to Dazz and she wondered if he was going to be alright, but shrugged, and decided that it didn't matter. If he was smart, he'd tell someone about his condition and they'd move to assist him, but he just shivered where he stood. He was obviously freezing, but he didn't say anything. Krista was concerned, albeit for different reasons than her own, and had stopped their trek to try and warm up. It was futile in this weather, but she hadn't listened.

Leaning against a tree, its branches snapping clean off as she brushed against them, she wanted to say something about it, but opted out for the sole reason that all of them had to make it in order for them to receive credit — so just abandoning him was out of the question, no matter how much she wanted to. She sighed and crossed her arms.

"Dazz, do you think you can make it the rest of the way?" Krista asked after they'd been resting for a bit.

He huddled his knees closer to himself, "Y-yes, I can manage," he replied through chattering teeth. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine... just fine...!"

"Alright, I'll trust you." She bent down and touched his knee gently. It was ice cold. "But, if you don't feel alright later on, don't be afraid to tell me." She looked over. "You ready to go, Ymir?"

"I've been. The longer we sit here the shorter it takes us to freeze."

Krista nodded and pointed at the stretcher beside her. A sleeping bag was secured to it in case someone really needed to keep warm in the harsh weather. "Can you carry that the rest of the way, then?"

"Yeah," Ymir replied and hoisted it behind her back by the strings attached to the front. "It won't be a problem," she stated as she started to move forward. Yet, as she passed Krista, she couldn't help it and whispered into her ear. "But _he _will be."

Dazz was irritating her too much to be quiet about it. If the idiot couldn't hack it out here, then why did he come in the first place? Ymir looked back to see Krista glare briefly at her as she helped Dazz to his feet. The weather had started to pick up again, the temperature dropping rapidly. Snowballs and flakes peppered them. She looked up at the sky. They were moving too slowly. They'd never make it before morning to the lodges.

Not really caring what they did anymore, she lifted the stretcher further up and continued down the trail. The trees around them were ominous in the light and reminded her of her time in the church. She looked up at one of the mountains barely visibly through the treetops. Images from the past flashed through her head again and she bit down on the pain. _She wasn't going to succumb to it anymore._ In one of her dreams, there'd been a face. A friendly and caring face. Yet, that same face had been bloodthirsty and cruel in the same instance. She didn't want to see it in her dreams anymore. After the pain started to subside, her senses becoming clearer, she looked back to see how the other two were doing. All she saw was snow and trees. She cursed under her breath and started back. Krista was frantically trying to lift Dazz.

"Y-Ymir, Dazz is—!"

"I told you he'd be a—"

"Just get me the stretcher! Hand it to me!" Krista yelled, reaching out for it.

Ymir shrugged, took it off her shoulders and laid it down. Krista opened the sleeping bag then tried putting Dazz into it, but he was too heavy for her. Even so, she continued to try. After helping her, Ymir stepped back onto the trail.

Krista was dragging the stretcher behind her as it was also too heavy for her to carry, especially now that a person was on it. Ymir glanced down at the sunken line she was making in the snow with her efforts and then looked back at her own footsteps. Everytime Krista took a breath, she got angrier.

"Krista... give it up already," she told her, only to be met with silence. "You listening?" She glanced down at the loser she was hauling, who's condition had gotten worse now that they'd started moving again. "Dazz is at death's door. A guy who couldn't even properly evaluate his physical limits shouldn't have come here in the first place, but he wanted praise and recognition and took this harsh training anyway. With a stupid approach like that, this is as far as he gets. It's as simple as that." She pulled her scarf up to her nose. "If we keep walking at this snail's pace, he'll die for sure. And we, too, will be in a very real danger. We won't last till morning. So, there're two choices open to us: we leave Dazz and try to survive ourselves, or all three of us die here together." After another beat of silence, she spoke up again. "Your choice?"

"I choose the third option because the two choices you offer are _wrong_, Ymir. I'm going to reach the cabins at the foot of this mountain and save Dazz..." Krista looked Ymir in the eyes, "Of course, it'll be easier for me if you just go ahead and stop bugging me. What do you say to that?"

"I won't bug you, then."

"We'll make it there, I promise, so you can just go ahead, ok?"

Ymir watched as Krista got more exhausted with every other step. "Hey..."

"Why are you still here?" she huffed as she turned to look back. "Go ahead or it'll be dangerous. So hurry up..."

"Hah?" Ymir removed the scarf from around her face. She gripped the lantern she'd lit tighter and stared at the one hanging from the pole secured on Krista's pack. "Say, why aren't you asking me for help? It should be glaringly obvious that between you with your childlike build and mine that it'd be a lot faster if I hauled him instead, right?" Then, "You're not really _trying_ to save Dazz, are you?" Silence. The two of them stood there in the snow. Ymir leaned further in to get a better look at her face under the hood. "You said yourself that it's gonna be dangerous, didn't you? Which means you're well aware that at this rate you're gonna die too, _aren't you_? And dying here is precisely what you want to accomplish here, right?" No response. "_Right?_ You wanna make it so that I was left to spread the legend of one self-sacrificial goddess Krista. No, _wait_, I'm probably reading a bit too much into it. That won't do, will it? Because Krista is a _good _girl, isn't she? So, you're probably honestly asking yourself what you can do to save this guy — without asking me to haul him, that is. Am I wrong?" Still, there was no response from her, but Ymir couldn't help but smirk anyways. The silence was enough. "You really want people to think that you're a good person who'd literally die for the sake of others. Cause if people get involved with you and end up dying... that would make you a bad, _bad _girl, wouldn't it?"

"I never—"

"Then it's you, isn't it? The illegitimate child of a mistress driven out of the house. A bastard's _bitch_. Am I wrong?" Krista looked down and didn't respond. "I'm not wrong, aren't I?"

"Why— how— do you..."

"Oh? The bull's eye, huh? It really is you." She watched as Krista clenched a fist at her side. "I happened to accidentally overhear a certain conversation, at a certain church in the innermost land when I was borrowing money to keep on living. The dangerous kind of talk that no outsider was supposed to hear; you were the heiress to a certain very important house. A direct descendant by blood, but born out of the wedlock which made you unacceptable as a successor for many of them. They thought everything would be so much _easier_ if you just got killed somehow, or simply, _disappeared_. Renouncing your name and living like an ordinary person, then they were willing to overlook your pathetic existence. And the girl they were talking about did just that. Changing her name and joining the military trainees after having been driven out of the house." Ymir straightened up and looked down at her. "But don't worry, I've no intention to tell this to anyone or to sell you out."

"Then," Krista looked up and her eyes were wide, "you joined the 104th Trainee Corps... to protect me? Is that it? Why would you go to such lengths...?"

Ymir was taken aback. "Who... knows...? Maybe because we're alike?"

"You mean you experienced something similar in your life? And because of that you became a soldier just like that because of me?"

Ymir looked away briefly. "Well, I don't really know for sure myself... no, that's not quite true either..."

"Did you... want to be friends with me?"

"Hah? No, that's not it... I didn't—! For one, you and me are _different!_ When I got a second chance in life, I made a fresh start! But I never stooped so _fucking _low as to renounce my real name! If I, Ymir, reject the person I was born as, it's as good as losing in life! I keep living under my own name and this is my revenge on life! My showing them all, that my _fate _wasn't fucking sealed the moment I was born! And what the fuck did you do?! You completely surrendered! Even going so far as wanting to kill yourself! Do you want those bastards who treated you as a nuisance to be happy that badly, _huh?!_ Why'd you want to kill yourself instead of _them?!_ If you really want to, it's possible to change even your fate!"

"N-no..." Krista reeled back from Ymir's sudden intensity. "No, it's not... even now... that's not—! There's no way for the three of us to get out of this situation safely, is there?!" Her eyes grew wider as Ymir started walking away.

"There is," Ymir answered. She reached the slope of the trail and looked down, one hand on a tree. "That light. The lodge is right beneath this cliff. We'll drop Dazz off here. If he's lucky, he'll land safely and people might discover him and help him just in time to save his loser of a life. There's no other hope left for him. Exposed to the elements like this for much longer and he'll just freeze to death like a bag worm."

"But if we drop him off the cliff, he'll only die from—!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Ymir yelled and slammed her fist into the smaller girl's gut. "I'll do it and you can go ahead alone!" she said dragging Dazz behind her. _She couldn't believe she was going to use it, but this girl ticked her off._

Jumping off the cliff with Dazz, she transformed into the monster she never wanted to be again. She grasped Dazz tightly between her claws and braced for the impact as they hit the bottom. As she made a giant imprint in the snow and enough noise to alert someone at the lodging, she hastily threw Dazz down and raced off to transform back into the girl she just was.

She stretched her arms as Krista came up to the lodging, "Took you long enough. I made it here awhile ago." She clutched the side of her head from resuscitating pain lingering from her sudden transformation and... more memories... "I really... did a stupid thing... didn't I?" she mumbled to herself.

"What about Dazz?!" Krista shouted and she got up and motioned for her to follow. She opened a door to one of the buildings and inside was Dazz, a medical team monitoring his condition.

"He survived... a fall, from the _cliff_? B-but... you had no rope... with a cliff that high it would be useless anyway, but still, how did you manage to get Dazz down safely...?"

Ymir turned with a grave eye. "Well... I guess... I could tell you... But first, you have to promise me something. When I reveal this secret of mine, you claim back your real name and live back under it. Understand?" Krista nodded and she went back to focusing on walking. She didn't want to have to bring up this conversation again. Achi was waiting for them by the sleeping quarters to discuss the events of the day and she needed something to keep her mind off of everything for once.

**—-—-—**

The snow outside had mixed in with a bout of rain that had blown through suddenly. Ymir tossed and turned in her sleep.

_Ymir._The Titans chanted and the noise of it all was ringing in her ears and she couldn't take it anymore. _She couldn't—!_

Sitting up with a start, she looked over and blinked. In front of the window, it looked familiar. She twitched. The angel from back then. It sat there and gazed out the window. _The power in a name. Names have power._ She shook her head and blinked again; the angel was gone, replaced with Krista who was huddled on a chair inside her blanket, and turned over.

"That gloomy feeling you're giving off is coming my way," she grumbled. "Could you at least get back in your bed and count the nicks in the ceiling if you can't sleep?"

"Sorry... I—"

"You know, you have this strange combination of grace and melancholy. Like a goddess. However, there are times when you take too much pride in your misfortune — like back with Dazz — and you'd better watch that. _It pisses me off_."

"I didn't mean to upset you back then, Ymir, honest."

She laughed cruelly. "Everyone knows that you're the cutest and most deserving of everyone's _fucking_ pity. And, since you're well aware of that, you shouldn't go out of your way to drag it out like you do."

"Then... what am I supposed to...?" Krista spun around to face her.

"How the hell should I know? Go back to sleep already!"

Krista got up and did as she was told. "I'm not angry, you know... I was never angry, about what happened before..."

Ymir caught a glimpse of her blonde hair, then quickly turned back around. "You two look alike..." she said after a moment. "You look like this statue I saw in a church a few years ago."

Krista's eyes widened in surprise. "Is my face really that masculine looking?" she asked as she touched around her cheeks.

"No, that isn't it..."

"Then what did her face look like?"

"She had that look, that look that made you want to reach out and touch her."

After another beat of silence, Krista spoke up again. "I'd like to see that statue some day..."

"You can't."

"Why not? Is it gone? Isn't it still there?"

Ymir remembered losing herself back then and smashing it to pieces. No, she hadn't done that, had she? It was still there. "Just forget about it."

"But—"

"I said to just forget about it! Go to fucking sleep already!" she shouted as loud as she dared to not wake the others in the room, especially Achi, and shut the other girl up. She pulled her blanket closer to her body and stared out the window at the rain as it hit the window and distorted everything outside. _She didn't want to remember anymore._

**—-—-—**

Annie sat up in her bunk. The rain peppering the window kept her awake. It reminded her of Fritz, the rain...

The day's exercise had involved trudging through harsh conditions in groups, from point A to point B. Last time it had been rain, this time it'd been snow. Each group was a pair of three's and her two partners had been Connie and Mina. From observing them during the trek, she'd summarized two things. The first, was that Connie had to be either very brave, or very stupid, to have been without the appropriate clothing on. The second, how much Mina cared for the safety of her fellow trainees — but, what was the use of caring for others' well-being if you couldn't take care of your own first?

Along the way, they'd encountered another group consisting Sasha, Jean, and Armin and helped them to fend off some wolves that had attacked because of Sasha's "needs", her love of food. Jean had been injured during the confrontation, having been bitten in the leg, and she'd helped Armin bring him into the cabin Dazz was hold up in and left as soon as he was situated. She'd sat with Mina and the rest and waited for the other groups to arrive. Waiting for Fritz.

She pulled her blanket closer to her chest. When had she started thinking of Fritz so much, so often? Wanting to wait for him...? _Why? _Looking at the rain outside, she was again reminded on his stupid face._Fritz..._Her promise to her father...

_I want you to treat this whole world as your if the whole world curses and resents you. __Promise me you'll come back._

And, yet, she...

**—-—-—**

The streets had been full of vigor and everyone wore bright colors. Expensive clothing, jewelry. It had made her _sick_. They were the same people as back then, there was no difference between the times except the number of people. A smaller populace.

It had meant they were afraid. Afraid to birth more children, afraid to train them into soldiers, afraid to watch them die. _No,_ it was more shallow than that. Why should _they_ be the ones churning out lambs to the slaughter instead of the lower classes? Why should _they_ be the ones to sacrifice themselves? It wasn't their problem, what went on outside Wall Sina. There was still one defense keeping the Titans at bay so their comfortable lives never became uncomfortable, so why bother? That whole way of thinking had irritated her and it still did even now.

And, she remembered the side streets that split off from the main ones, the rats and putrid smell of the sewer system. The scum of the world. A whole other world was down in the sewers and she wondered if, one day, she'd be able to go there and show Krista. Show her what really went on within Wall Sina, that the poor were forced to wallow in shit while the rich thrived, and yet, she didn't want to. Why? As she contemplated, there was a flash of red and she looked up, but nothing was there.

She was seeing things and went back to the question. Krista was.. to her... she— another flash. She stood up and shook her head. Her hands were shaking. Suddenly, without warning. She was on her hands and knees and gagging onto the wooden floor. More flashes of red. Intensive, excruciating, flashes of pain. She fell on her side and felt something wet. Blood. The flashes of red. Pain. A memory.

_A Titan. Large, muscular, beady black eyes. Long, dark, spiky hair. Dark tan skin and claw-like hands. A wide mouth, a bloodthirsty grin. It was grinning at her. Flexing and moving its shoulders in a circular motion, it nodded. "Enough." it said in a deep and garbled voice. Below her on the ground was a woman. The flashes of red. Her blood-red hair. The Titan looked down at the woman and shrugged. "She can't go any further."_

_Despite how much larger the Titan was compared to her, the woman's voice was booming. "I shall decide when enough is enough." A tilt of the head and a nod. "Continue, Skrymir."_

"_Yes, my Lady," the Titan obeyed. Her eyes went back to staring straight at her. A flash of movement. The flashes of red. Blood. The Titan had lashed out so fast she hadn't seen anything but the blurred lines of her forearm. Blackness..._

As she woke with a jolt, Ymir sat up and felt around her face. Nothing. She waved her hand in front of her face. Nothing. No flashes of red. No blood. She wasn't dead; she wasn't going to die.

"What was that?" she asked herself as she touched her face and ran a hand through her hair. Her eyes shifted to her hands. They were no longer shaking. "Just what the fuck?" She scowled and punched the floor. "I don't know what the fuck that was!" She laid her head back and stared at the ceiling. It was still dark. "How long was I...?" She shook her head again and cursed. "Whatever, I'm still here..." Even so, her hand went to her face again at the memory.

"_Ymir."_

_She was lying on a bed with bandages wrapped around her head and chest. There was a light coming from somewhere beside her. Her vision was blurry. Dark green eyes— a girl looking down at her with a furrowed brow, and as she tried to rise, pushed her back down again._

"_Don't try and move. You took a beating again." The girl smirked and flashed her teeth. "You're not what the Lady expected when she'd taken you, but I know you're more than what she ever wanted you to be. You've got a fire inside of you." Taking a wet cloth, the girl put it on her forehead, "Besides the fever." A smile. Caring and friendly. "I've only seen it a few times before. The first— a boy at the time, around the same age as you are now, he was always crying. An annoying little brat, but he never backed down." She looked away to wherever the light was coming from. "The little bastard."_

_Ymir coughed and spat up blood and she squirmed as the girl held her down. Her skin felt as if it were boiling and she wanted to cry out from the pain._

"_Don't move, I said. Your body still isn't used to the regeneration process." The girl leaned down to touch her face. "It'll be over sooner than you think, just bear with the pain."_

_She nodded, eyes watery. The girl's voice was becoming distant and she couldn't hear her anymore, only focused on coping with the burning sensations and, eventually, she drifted back to sleep, the girl talking as soothingly as she could the whole time._

Ymir clawed at the sheets of her bed. That face, caring and kind, bloodthirsty and cruel. "_Skrymir..._"


	7. Beginning

**V||. Beginning**

Illuminated by fires on either side of the training field were the top ten trainees that had shown the best scores out of the 104th Trainee Squad. Fritz was watching Annie in particular — she had made it to fourth place. He probably hadn't even made it to twenty, given his scores. Almost everyone else he expected to be there was up there except Sasha, Connie, and Krista — and where was Ymir? Her score was easily higher than Krista's. A glance in her direction revealed nothing.

"_Dedicate your hearts!_" Chief Instructor Shardis shouted so loud bells chimed in the nearest town over. "Today, you trainee graduates will be given three choices. You can join the Garrison, protecting the towns and reinforcing the Walls, the Scouting Legion, who risk their lives beyond the Walls, in Titan territory, and finally, the Military Police, who serve the King, lead the people, and protect internal order. Of course, only the top ten students, whose names were just announced, can join the Military Police!"

Within no time the ceremony ended and all the trainees were gathered in the ceremony hall for drinks and to chat.

As Fritz walked into the room, he greeted the people he knew, got a drink and, after taking a sip, scanned the room for Annie, finally spotting her by herself at one of the tables in the center of the room. He made eye contact.

Over the course of the last year, they've been meeting with each other and practicing their skills and rarely anything else. She had revealed so little about her past, but he did confirm that she was from a village outside Wall Maria that had gotten overrun by Titans. She had been one of the only survivors. She had told him about her father and his harsh training methods — what she did in her free time. Little things. He, in turn, had told her about his family, where he was from, his own father, and wondered if she too viewed him as something to want to know more about.

He averted his eyes and searched around for Achi, and found her sitting alone like Annie. Odd, considering she, Ymir, and Krista were usually together. She was drinking the same thing he was. Cider.

Not strong, very mild, barely enough to make any of them tipsy in the slightest. Though, he was worried for the ones like Sasha and Connie who kept drinking the stuff like there was no tomorrow. He then wondered what part of the military she was going to join. If he had to guess — the Scouting Legion, along with himself. She had the talent and the personality. She was ferocious and headstrong, _stubborn._She'd fit in the ranks just fine.

Fritz took another sip of his drink and decided now was the best time to walk over to Annie's table. As he got closer, she looked up from her own drink but didn't say anything, just making eye contact like before.

"Hey there, Annie," he greeted as he plopped down on the opposite side of the table. He set his drink down harder than normal and the contents swished around violently. "I saw you made it into the top ten! The Scouting Legion—"

"Military Police," she responded almost immediately as she took a sip of her drink. "I'm joining the Military Police, not the Scouting Legion or the Garrison."

"Why? I'm joining the Scouting Legion, don't you want to join me instead?"

"No," she replied bluntly. "Unlike you, I'm _not_ in a hurry to go and die. Deep down, I'm not as strong as you are." She looked away and continued, "I'm just a weak little girl who can't tough it out like guys such as yourself. I'm not joining the Scouting Legion. I just," she looked into his eyes now, "_can't _do it. I'm not in a hurry to just die out there. My decision is final, I'm not joining the Scouting Legion."

"But Annie—"

"No!" she raised her voice and slammed her fist down. "How many times do I have to say it until it gets through that thick skull of yours?!"

Fritz looked away, embarrassed now that other people were staring. "I—"

"You _what?_"

"I-I didn't think you'd be so strongly against it."

Annie eased the grip she had on her drink and leaned back. She stayed in that position. "I'm just not strong enough," she whispered after a moment, "I can't do it. Can't you understand that?"

Fritz was still looking away. "I'm sorry— I didn't— I didn't—"

Why was he so inconsiderate? Fritz dug his hand into his knee. How could he have been so _stupid_? His nails dug into the fabric of his pants and down to the skin underneath; he wanted to draw blood. He wanted to punish himself for being such an idiot, he wanted to—

"Fritz, calm down," Annie said suddenly. She had reached over the table and put a hand on his own. "Don't dwell on those emotions." Her face showed no visible emotion and her voice was flat. Indistinguishable. Yet... "You couldn't have guessed my intentions even if you tried. It was unpredictable, right? That I would join the Military Police instead of the Scouting Legion or the Garrison?" Fritz kept his head downcast, but his nails stopped digging. "It wasn't any of your business to know. It was never any of your business. I let you... get too close..." She looked away briefly, "I'm just not in a hurry to die, so I can't make the commitment of joining the Scouting Legion. You understand, right?" Only silence answered her and she smiled sadly. She slowly got up from the table and turned to walk away, but stopped as soon as she took the first steps.

He watched her get up. Watched her start to walk away. He had lost her trust, her friendship. She'd opened up so much since they'd first met. Even if it was only talking, it was better than glaring at everything she came across. All that progress would be lost. The cage would be forever in darkness, the key never used. He couldn't let that happen. The hand on his knee curled into a fist. _He wouldn't let that happen._

"Don't say it." Fritz finally spoke, albeit in barely a whisper. "Don't _you_ say it, got it? _Goodbye._ There isn't a thing called 'goodbye' in my mind." He shook his head, "And, even if outside my mind there really is, I can't say it to _you._ So don't say it _me!_" He got up from the table and reached out to grasp her wrist. She resisted and took a step backward. No, he wouldn't let her run away anymore! He held on tighter as she struggled to wiggle free...

"Don't touch me," she barked. "_Let go._"

"I won't."

"I said—"

"_I won't_!" He was starting to cause a scene. "Let's take this outside. Come on." He forcefully pulled her outside to the onlook of everyone. She was practically seething and tore free of his grip.

"What makes you think that only you can solely choose when to end everything? It's my decision if I want to leave or not, not _yours._"

Fritz opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out. She was right, he didn't have any say. _Yet..._"I don't care! I thought we were friends! Don't just say you're going abandon that for _what?_ A spot safe in the Inner Wall like a coward?!"

Annie's eyes flashed. "I'm _not _a coward."

"Then why are you running away?!"

"I'm _not _running away."

Fritz bit his lip and glanced up at the moon overhead. "Then why are you _scared?_" he finally asked as his voice searched for answers. Annie didn't respond.

"I..." She looked away herself. "Can't tell you."

"What's going on, you guys!?" Mina ran up and stood between the two of them. "What's this all about?!" she asked, searching their faces. Fritz looked away but Annie stared back.

"It's none of your business. Don't follow me," she said over her shoulder as she began to walk away from the two of them.

"Annie, wait!" Mina called after her as she stretched out her hand to grab her shoulder, but Annie shrugged it off. Mina looked back to Fritz, "Fritz, what happened?" No response. "_Fritz!_"

"Nothing happened," he replied slowly.

"I'm going to go after Annie to make sure she doesn't do anything! You stay here, alright?" she said, smiled, then put the same hand on his shoulder. "She's just not used to people worrying about her. Let's hope we can change that, yeah?" She removed her hand and was to about to go after Annie, but then looked over her shoulder one last time. "And don't look so down! Cheer up!" Then she was gone, lost in the gloom and the night, only the sound of her rushed footsteps heard.

Fritz looked down at the ground. _How was he supposed to cheer up_? Mina was a good friend to have, always so supportive. If only he could be more like her...

"Hey, dumbass," Achi had her back to the door of the ceremony hall, "do you get it now? There's nothing you can do." After a moment, "Have anything to say?"

"I'm not... Even if I have to force it on her, I'll... help her..."

Achi's eyes visibly hardened. "What do you want to help her with?" It wasn't a question.

A figure stepped forward into the light and craned his sore head. Wearing a khaki colored military uniform, his face was sour. "Hey, you punks, what are you doing out this late?"

"And you are?" Achi grumbled.

"I'm a member of the Garrison. Didn't you recognize the roses?" He pointed to a patch on his arm.

"Pansy."

Fritz hastily stepped forward and saluted. "I'm Friedrich Brandt of the 104th Trainee Corps and this is—"

Achi outstretched an arm in front of Fritz's chest. "Fritz, I can introduce myself." After a minute, she sighed. "I don't talk to strangers though, sorry. Especially pansies."

"I'm not a pansy you little—!"

"_Newell!_ What are you doing messing around over there for!?" A female of medium height with a round face came forward wearing the standard military uniform, two red roses embroiled on a patch sewn on the shoulder, similar to the man she was shouting at. "Who're these kids?"

"These punks are newly graduated trainees and they—"

"Whatever they did, can't you forgive them? It's their graduation night after all!"

"But—!"

"Nope!"

The woman's name was Kalia Bendlin and the man with was her subordinate, Kazue Newell, and, the next morning, Fritz and Achi stumbled out of their beds that the military had rented out for them and the other graduates, and after they groggily got their uniforms on, went outside in the hot sun to a crowd gathered on either side of the street. Everyone was looking to the south, the direction of the gate that led from Hermina, at something coming down the street.

"What's going on?" Achi groaned as she rubbed an eye. "Horses?"

"It's the Scouting Legion!" Kalia exclaimed as she pointed and wrapped an arm around her, "That's the main force! See, look! There's Petra!" she said as she waved to a young woman with short, amber colored hair on horseback. The woman wore a green cape and a military uniform with a blue and white winged patch, the Scouting Legion's signature Wings of Freedom. "She's an old friend from my trainee days," Kalia. "Out of me, Ines, and herself, she was the slowest one. Now look at her!" She whistled and smiled widely.

"Did you say Ines?!" Fritz exclaimed, peering closer at the members of the Scouting Legion on horseback.

"Yeah, I did..." Kalia replied as she let go of Achi. "Do you know her?"

**—-—-—**

Krista watched the soldiers on horseback trot by with dejected expressions, then at the cart a few of them were hauling via a team of two horses. Square in structure, four large wooden spoke wheels on either side at each end. She couldn't tell if anything was inside and didn't need to. They were the same as back in Thorpe, where one of their two uses was to carry large quantities of grains and meats over long distances. The other use for them was the transport of livestock — alive, injured, and dead. She looked at one of the soldiers keeping the team of horses in check. He had a piece of cloth tied around his neck, a simple filter for keeping out any potential unpleasant odors. Like with the livestock back at Thorpe. Krista felt herself shrink further into the crowd. The carts were meant for people like her.

"Krista," Ymir said next to her, eyes on the carts also, "don't do anything stupid you'll regret later." She waved a hand over the soldiers. "Being a martyr isn't all it's cracked up to be. Remember that promise we made..."

"I wasn't thinking of doing anything..."

Ymir fixed her with a calculating eye but didn't say anything further. She was wondering about the girl from back then, Skrymir, and why no more memories from the past had surfaced since then. Whatever the cause, she grimaced. If the Titan in the memory was the girl Skrymir, then the possibility of her still being alive was high. And, given that ferocity hidden behind a mask of kindness, she didn't like that one bit.

**—-—-—**

Later in the day, Fritz hefted a barricade as his official first task as a member of the military along with another graduate named Jayce and together they placed it where Kalia instructed while other soldiers around them did the same.

The barricade now in the right position, Fritz stretched his arms and looked out at the Trost District: his hometown. Ines hadn't been with the Scouting Legion when they'd left, but Kalia had assured him that she was probably fine. Ines wasn't a part of the main force, she'd told him. She had explained that, in recent years, Ines had become more detached and it wouldn't have been surprising if she and her squad had went on ahead of the main force to gather more intelligence on the Titans. Fritz frowned as he wiped his brow — she was still so far away from his reach. And then, there was Annie. She was avoiding him...

"Hey Brandt! Get back to work!" Kalia shouted loudly, her cheerful demeanor from earlier that morning replaced with an authoritative and concentrated outlook. "I said get going! Snap to it!"

He wasn't paying attention. Near the gate that led out to Wall Maria, there was a billow of steam spewing everywhere.

_Titans._


	8. The Second Breaching

**V|||. The Second Breaching**

A figure shot up via their 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear further along the wall and Kalia blew a whistle. "Everyone! Retreat to HQ! Regroup for the contingency plan! Move! We _cannot _just hand Trost over to the Titans!" she shouted at the top of her lungs and poised her blade in HQ's direction. Beside her were Achi and Jayce. "Get moving you two."

"Got it," Achi replied as she glanced from the older woman to the Colossal Titan, the Titan responsible for breaching Wall Maria five years prior.

"But what about the Colossal Titan?" Jayce asked as he pointed in its direction, "It's still over there! We have to deal with it now or the gate will be taken down!" Achi was already on the move.

"It's already been breached. Right now, we should be doing everything we can to ensure that the Titans don't get any further into the town other than that. For you, that means getting to HQ as fast as you can, understand?" One of her hands was wrapped around a trinket on her necklace. Her eyes went back to where the Colossal Titan had appeared and gone just as quickly.

She had to send word to Commander Pixis immediately.

**—-—-—**

The military split them into three different groups as part of the contingency plan: the first group would be on the front lines to combat the Titans that had broken through; the second group would help herd people out of the town and provide backup for the first group. The third group was to organize the fleeing people into the next area and make sure no Titans got past them.

Fritz's squad consisted of Achi, Jayce, Kazue, Kalia, and himself. They'd been placed with the first group. Kalia was in command as the squad leader. Fritz couldn't see his own house but he knew the direction it was in and hoped that his mother and Sofie were safe.

"Stay sharp! We haven't encountered any Titans yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't already inside the town!" Kalia called over her shoulder. "Stay in formation and don't stray!"

As he hung from the side of the top of a belltower, Fritz could see everything around for a mile or more; it really was the perfect vantage point. The street below was packed with people still running for the gate the led out of Trost. So many people were still inside. "What about the people still fleeing from the Titans?!" he shouted over the noise of the bell and panic below.

"Not our problem!" Kalia yelled back, further atop the belltower than anyone else. "There's nothing we can do to help them right now! Let the rear guard take care of it!" She saw his face contort in anger and her own fury grew. "What do you think we can do?!" She pointed her blade at the Titans now spilling into the town and the necklace around her neck swayed. "We have bigger problems to deal with here!"

"Fritz! She's right, we have to deal with the Titans!" Jayce agreed as he then looked up at Achi. "Isn't that right Achi! _Achi_?!"

Achi had been out of tune with their conversation the whole time as she gazed out at the multitude of Titans that were slowly approaching. Some of them were smiling. She grasped her wire tighter as she remembered her father. A beat of sweat rolled down her forehead. Her weapon hand was shaking.

A Titan jumped into a tower in the distance and smashed it. There had been a squad right there, and one of the group had been caught between its teeth. Achi watched the monster swallow him whole in one single instant, immediately concluding the source of her fears as it showed its teeth. _That smile_.

That inhuman smile that chilled her bones and extinguished her fury, her desire to fight, her resolve to keep up her tough girl act and revert back to the scared little girl she used to be. The _useless_, _scared_, _little girl_ she used to be — and she continued to watch as another of the squad came at the Titan who had just eaten his friend, her shaking intensified as his leg was bitten off and he went crashing along a roof, shingles flying everywhere. _She wasn't going to go down like those bastards._

"That's right..." she whispered to herself as she now pointed one of her blades at an approaching nine meter class. "These bastards need to die!" She shot forward.

"Almen, wait! Dammit! Newell! Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid!"

"I won't let this bastard intimidate me!" She went back to the Titan, "I'll kill this guy really quick and be back in no time, so don't get in my way!" She went to the next roof without stopping, the Titan was just two roofs within reach of her blades. She took a foot off the roof and shot forward to the next one, only for the Titan to take notice. It turned its large head to face her and its lips curled. Almost as if it were laughing at her.

_You can't kill me, little girl_. Its smile seemed to say.

Achi collapsed onto the roof and her eyes widened. She dropped her blades and they fell onto the shingles of the roof with a clang.

_What's the matter little girl? Oh, that's right, you're afraid_. _Just a little girl who tries to act like something she's not, when, in reality, she's always been a useless and weak thing. Such a small thing, barely even noticeable to even your best friend. Oh, that's right, she isn't your best friend anymore. Betrayal, was it? Must have been harsh, little girl. How could you go on trusting someone after they've abandoned you?__How could you find it within your heart to trust that person again, to forgive them for their sins? Well, little girl? Do you have an answer?_

Achi snarled and slammed a fist down. No, she wasn't that useless and weak thing anymore. Yes, she had been betrayed once. No, she wouldn't be betrayed again. She weakly got back to her feet with a glare.

_Baring your fangs, little girl? How cute. Such a cute thing that, in the end, won't save your pathetic waste of a life. Though, don't worry, little girl, because I'll fix that for you. Here, take my hand..._

The Titan stretched its long arm across the roof over and Achi was about to roll to where she'd dropped her weapons when Kazue shot past her.

"You stupid punk! Get back to the others, I'll handle this! Go! _Now!_"

He turned back to face the nine meter Titan. As he ran the length of the Titan's arm, trying to keep his balance as it moved to intercept him slowly, Achi's eyes widened in alarm at the approach of another Titan. She had to warn him, she had to tell him to get away! And yet, her voice... it was...

"You punk! Get the hell out of here already, that's an order!" he shouted and in those brief moments a hand slammed into the side of his upper body, rupturing his internal organs. He went flying to the ground and landed on his back with a thud.

Achi watched as the Titans converged on him, the nine meter class as it lifted him up in its hands and held him aloft in the air by his uniform, the other Titan sneering gleefully at the sight. His head bleeding profusely and something else. Something she had to peer closely to see properly. His lips were moving. _Get... out... of... here. _He coughed up more blood but continued to move his lips. _That's... an... order... _She gulped and nodded, picking up her blades as she gave one last look at the scene behind her. The scene of a man who'd saved her life. "Damned pansy..." She finally found her voice again as she raced off to join back with the rest of the squad. And, as she looked at their faces — they already knew. Kalia's face, Achi could almost see the scars and torrents of her past etched into her pores as they screamed in vain and lashed out at herself and the world around.

It frightened her more than the Titans.

**—-—-—**

"There's nobody down below in the streets anymore," Fritz commented after they'd left the rooftop. There were streaks of blood and rubble, but no people.

"The Titans have probably swept through this area and eaten everyone that they could find. If there is anyone still alive down there, they're hold up in a house and being careful not to make any noise. It's the only thing they can do in this situation. Once we get past this area we'll circle back around to HQ and refill our gas canisters again. If we run low on fuel, we're as good as dead." Then, she went to Achi.

"Almen, you alright? It wasn't your fault that Newell died, that guy had always wanted to die saving someone and he got his wish." Achi still didn't respond and Kalia made a mental note to keep an eye on her. With the way she was now, anything could happen. "Alright, kids, this is where things get more complicated. Don't engage any Titans without backup and don't engage them at all if there are more than three in the area. Despite how clumsily they move, they can still get you if you aren't paying attention. Spread out a little, don't hold a tight formation. It'll lessen the chance that we'll all get taken out in one sweep!"

Just then, a Titan appeared from behind a building and was about to get Fritz. Kalia used the last of her gas to reach an incredible speed and slam into him. She caught the boy and the two of them tumbled down — straight into the Titan's mouth and down its throat. Its jaws closed around them and she dug her blade into the flesh of the its throat to stop their momentum downward, only to succeed in it snapping in two because of their combined weight. Her hand was nicked as it scraped against the broken piece now lodged into its flesh and she braced for the splash when they hit its stomach juices. The sound was meatier than expected.

She had landed on top of Fritz and he was lying on top of another person, that person piled on top of another, and the cycle repeated. All around them were corpses floating in the juices, body parts that had been taken from their owners, and blood that had all mixed in to create a black mess that swirled around. The stink was sweet, but the sight made one gag. Kalia stared up the Titan's throat, only seeing dark outlines of its muscles and other fleshy parts, its mouth already closed. She leaned around and shook Fritz a little.

"Hey Brandt," she whispered into his ear, "can you hear me?" No response. Gurgling sounds and the smell of blood; sweat. No one else was alive.

If one wasn't killed outright before being eaten, they only had a few minutes to an hour of life left to spare before they succumbed to death. She and Fritz had been lucky in that regard, as they had suffered no life threatening injuries, so they had at least an hour or a bit less to live. The thought made her croak, of all the places to die, it would be the one place she'd never wanted anyone else to die in. She felt movement underneath her and turned her head. Fritz had moved.

"Hey, Brandt, you awake?" she asked again and there was a cough in response. "Hey! Come on, wake up!" she shouted as loudly as she dared and nudged him softly. If the two of them were able to move, then she may be able to pull off an escape. Since they weren't submerged in the juices of the Titan's stomach, their equipment wasn't damaged and unusable. They still had a chance to get out!

**—-—-—**

"There's nothing," Jayce said after he looked over the sack of decaying corpses and body parts a second time. "Everything in there is rotting. If Fritz and Kalia were in it, they'd be trying to get out."

"Maybe they already got out." Achi added. She looked in the direction the Titan had went. She still wanted to kill it, her fiery attitude renewed from Kazue's death, but Jayce had convinced her that finding the two of them came first. "If we search this sack of crap, you think we'd find them mixed in?"

"You want to put your hand in there?"

"Good point."

Jayce covered his mouth and glanced around at the buildings on either side of the street. The sack that the Titan had regurgitated was pressed up against a window and had broken the glass, slime and shards everywhere. If the two of them were to have any hope of finding Fritz and Kalia, they'd have to split up and individually search each house.

"If we look around these houses, there is a chance they could be in one of them." He pointed at the row of houses on his right. "I'll check these first few houses and you check the ones on the left side. If you find anything, let me know. I'll do the same if I find anything."

Achi raised an eyebrow. "And who made you in charge?"

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas, Achi."

"Fuck off," she retorted and stormed off without looking back, "I'll do it, but don't expect me to find them..."

Entering the first house, she stepped over an upturned table and felt her boot sink into something soft. She scowled and peered down at spilled food caking the bottom of her boot. More food was scattered on the floor. Drinks and chairs. She picked up a cracked plate off the floor and wiped some dust off. Nothing else to be found on the first floor. Stairs led to a second floor and she eased her way up, the steps creaking.

Three more rooms, the first two empty. The last room of the house was bare except for a small bed and a dresser with a mirror mounted on top. A young girl's room.

Achi carefully maneuvered her way around the room for anything that stood out and came to the edge of the bed. Underneath the sheets on the far side was a straw doll. She picked it up and inspected it on all sides.

"Told you I wouldn't find them... you ass..." She pocketed the toy and she took one last glance around the room before leaving to the next house down the row.

**—-—-—**

The bleeding had finally stopped.

Kalia wiped drool off of her sleeve and pain shot up her arm. She grimaced and clutched her shoulder; her arm was broken. She looked over at Fritz, who had gotten a head injury when his head had hit one of the Titan's teeth. She'd been forced to haul him out herself, and after she had stabbed its tongue, it regurgitated all the dead that had been floating around in its stomach. Luckily, she'd managed to get them out before the combined sack of decay had greeted them, skidding into the side of the building and destroying her right arm in the process.

Now, she compressed a piece of cloth onto Fritz's head wound and propped him under the window of one of the house onlooking the street just in case any Titans would happen to peer inside. When she had found this house and decided to use it as shelter, it had smelt of dried blood and fruits — a sickening combination. It was a relatively small house, the only one with clean water and, more importantly, what passed for a first aid kit: a makeshift wooden box with gauze and other cheap medical equipment inside. Her broken arm had bruised up and swollen in the short amount of time she'd been in the house tending to Fritz, and she had wrapped some spare cloth around it to lessen any bleeding.

The cloth quickly became damp and useless, so she carefully took it off and rolled up her sleeve. As she winced at each spike of pain, she assessed the damage. The bone hadn't seemed to have broken through the skin, so that was a relief, but there were multiple fractures underneath — the swelling and bruising clear evidence of this. The bones in her arm were completely crushed as she laid it across her lap. The broken arm wasn't the only injury she'd sustained, and it was far from the _worst_.

She looked at the ceiling for the second time and sighed for the third. The wound at her side was fatal, she now realized, and she couldn't help but laugh. At least she wasn't dying in a Titan's stomach. She looked over at Fritz once again and rubbed his hair.

**—-—-—**

He thought he could hear it again, the sound of a woman's voice. The sound of her voice as it hummed a tune he wasn't familiar with as he opened his eyes.

A wooden floor, dirty and blood stained.

Furniture scattered everywhere, most of it broken. His legs were stretched out before him and he could feel something wet underneath his body. It was warm as it soaked his hands. Palms covered in something red. Something fresh and familiar to his senses. It took him a moment to realize what it really was: _blood_.

"H..." the woman's voice started to say, "hey... Brandt... didn't think you'd wake up," Kalia wheezed. She looked pale and small, the room overshadowing her presence. "We made it out, but," she removed a hand from her side as she revealed a deep gash, "I got nicked during the fall." His face dropped. She smiled and looked away. "It really looks that bad, huh?" She coughed again and blood trickled down her chin. "And here I thought it wasn't so bad. I can't feel it anymore, that's why... probably..." Her eyes followed his to the first aid kit. "It's empty, I already used all the gauze and cloth that was available," she said and pointed to her forehead.

There were no visible injuries and Fritz was puzzled until she pointed from hers to his. He felt around his head. "Why would you do that?! Aren't you in a worse condition than me?!" he yelled at her, at the wound in her side.

"I couldn't just let you bleed out, what would have Ines said if I'd let that happen? Brandt, take a good look at this," she removed her hand from the gash again and peered down at it, "you really think some gauze and cloth would fix _this?_" Kalia chuckled weakly. "I had a decision to make and I chose it," she lifted a finger toward him, "so don't worry about it. The other two are out there looking for us. I heard them no too long ago. Took them long enough, I was beginning to think they wouldn't find you."

"Don't you mean _us_?" Fritz laughed in denial. "I-I-I mean—" He held out a hand to touch her but it stopped before even reaching her. "They're going to find both of us, right?"

Kalia laughed again. "They would find both of us, wouldn't they?" She shook her head and looked at the ceiling. Her eyes had softened, tears visible. After a moment of silence she sighed and looked at him again, the tears gone. "I'm sorry, but I don't think… I'll be able to help you find Ines..."

Fritz stumbled forward on his hands and grasped her shoulders. "Hey, look at me!" he cried. He felt along her right arm; it was broken.

"Can..." Her breathing was shallow and her eyes were getting darker, as if the light was leaving them. She hunched forward and fell onto his chest, resting her chin on his shoulder.

He could feel her blood soaking into his uniform. "Hey...!"

"Can you… do me a favor?" she whispered into his ear. "When you see Ines or Petra, or _hell_, if you even see Anka, can you ask them about the flowers?" She coughed for a third time and blood spattered onto his shoulder. "_I'd really..._"

Fritz felt her slack against him and he held her tighter. He squeezed her hand and buried his face into her shoulder. He could heard the clatter of boots on pavement and he knew that they arrived too late, and set her gently to rest against the wall. He sat on his knees and just stared blankly at her as Jayce and Achi burst through the door split-seconds later.

Achi kicked the leg of a chair and it skidded across the floor. "_This..._" She curled a hand into a fist and bloodied her knuckles against a wall in silence. Her eyes were intensely focused on the ground.

Jayce crouched down to get eye level with him. "Fritz, we can't stay here," he said pointedly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "The smell of fresh blood will—" Fritz shrugged him off. "We can't stay here, it's too dangerous. Kalia would have understood. We have to—"

"Shut up." Fritz interrupted.

Jayce refused to look at her body and didn't say anything more. What was he supposed to say? He wasn't a leader, he wasn't a motivational speaker, he didn't know how to honor Kalia's passing with just words. He wasn't _her_. Going over what Kalia had last told them, he knew that it was best to go back to HQ to refuel and reorganize their tactics, and knew it was what Kalia would have done in this situation. He had to fill that role now. Yet, no words would come to him.

The palm of her hand against the wall, Achi's eyes darted from Kalia's body to Fritz. After all that's happened, he'd just sit there and do nothing. It was pathetic. She loomed over him. "_Get up._" She grabbed him by the collar and lifted. "How many times do I have to say it, you fucking bastard? Are you just going to sit here like a useless piece of crap, thinking about the past when you've been given another opportunity to live for the future, huh? Are you just going to throw away the chance she's given to you?! _Huh?!_ What the fuck was the point of the two of them dying if you're just going to do nothing? Do you know how _pissed off _that makes me? If you want to cry yourself to sleep and think about what you could have done, then go do it somewhere else, or better yet, go get eaten by a fucking Titan because I don't want your sorry ass anywhere near me!"

"_Achi!_"

"We don't have time for this and you know it! We can't stay here, you said it yourself!"

"But that doesn't mean you have to get in his face like that!" he protested as she tore away from him.

"Then what do _you _suggest we do? Sit here and wait for him to get over it?"

"We leave Kalia here, force him to go with us."

Fritz lifted his head to look at Jayce. "What did you say?"

"Didn't you hear him, you dumbass? We're leaving Kalia here and going on to HQ like she ordered us to."

"But we can't just—!"

"What's more important to you, a corpse or the actual person who used to be that corpse? Would you really choose the body over the memories? I'd want to honor her memory and not her dead body. I don't know about your sorry ass though."

He saw the look in her eyes; the same as before. That dead and haunted look. Cold. He bowed his head. "Can we at least come back to get her..." he whispered.

"Yes, we will." Jayce assured as he watched Fritz up Kalia's hands in her lap and made sure her eyes were closed. "There's nothing we can do about all the blood, but..."

"No, this is enough..."

A temporary withdraw started _fwwoooooing _in their ears.

"Something must have happened!" Jayce shouted over the noise and pointed over at HQ as soon as they all ran out of the house. "Look!"

It was being swarmed and crawled on from all sides by Titans. They couldn't hope to replenish their gas canisters now. Most of the surviving graduates having gathered near there on a cluster of rooftops.

**—-—-—**

Annie averted her eyes as Fritz came up to the rooftops along with Achi and another boy she didn't recognize. Looking over at Bertolt, then to the Wall where the Colossal Titan had first appeared, she blinked, her face a mask of indifference.

"Annie!" Mikasa called over to her, "I think I have a grasp of the situation, and I apologize for bringing my personal feelings into this, but have you seen Eren's squad?"

"Now that you mention it, Armin over there was from the same squad." Reiner answered as he rubbed his chin.

Annie watched Mikasa make her way over to Armin, who was mumbling to himself and hunched down, his back against a chimney. The two of them were his only real friends, weren't they? She heard her ask if he was alright and then about Eren, and... he answered.

The rest of his squad, Eren included, had all died. Annie felt her heart sink further into the pit of her soul. Mina had been a part of Eren's squad... and that meant Mina... _Mina was..._ She focused back on Mikasa, who had a hand on his shoulder now.

"Armin. Calm down. Stand up. This is no time to be getting sentimental." Mikasa walked over to Marco, leader of Team 19. "Marco, if we eliminate the Titans that are swarming around HQ, we'll all be able to fill up on gas and scale the Wall. Correct?"

"N-no, you're right, but—" He shook his head. "Even with you there, against that many of them..."

She stepped back and raised one of her blades high above her head, facing everyone. "I'm strong... stronger than all of you. _Extremely _strong!" she spoke clearly as her voice rose with each word, "and that's why... that's why I'll be able to drive the enemy out of there! Even on my own! But I guess all of you are useless, cowardly, and pathetic. It's really too bad, so stay here and suck your thumbs while you watch me! If I can't do it, then I'll just die. But, if I win, then I'll live. And if I don't fight, I can't win. I can't _live_." She ended her speech with a burst of gas from her 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear, rushing forward to HQ.

Next to her, someone laughed cruelly again. "What's too bad is your way with words. I'm sure you meant to light a fire under our asses like that. Eren, this is your fault dammit!" It was Jean, one of the other top ten graduates. "Were we taught to let one of our own fight alone?! All of you really will make cowards of yourselves!" He followed Mikasa's trail, not waiting for anyone else.

Sasha took the initiative to rally everyone, albeit with harsher words. "H-hey! Cowards! Dummies! Wimps! Idiots! Come on!" She started to follow Jean when everyone else decided to charge forward too. In no time, she and everyone else had caught up with Jean, Mikasa a ways ahead. Connie and Armin were now with them and Connie gasped as he watched Mikasa move.

Annie watched her stumble and crash due to a rapid depletion of gas, Connie and Armin moving to rescue her. She heard Jean curse. He led them to a nearby rooftop. Down below, a trainee on the street was frantically trying to start his 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear again, though with no avail as he was out of gas. Titans had closed in on him quickly and he started to panic even more. Two of the group rushed in to assist him as a Titan grabbed him, but they were quickly caught and eaten along with him, their screams filling everyone's ears as their blood sprayed everywhere.

"Now! Head straight for HQ while the Titans are occupied over there! It's now or never! Either way, if we run out of gas, it's over, so everyone charge! Full speed!"

**—-—-—**

Fritz was right behind Sasha as they all followed after Jean and he didn't look back to see what the Titans had made of the comrades they'd left to die. He already knew.

Ahead of him, Jean had been caught in the leg by a Titan but had sliced its finger off to get free and told them to keep going forward as HQ was right there in front of them. All around, others were getting caught by Titans and weren't as successful in getting away. Fritz gulped and protected his head as he and Sasha smashed into one of the many windows of HQ and landed inside behind Jean and the others. Shards of glass peppered them and scattered all along the floor as they sighed with relief and brushed themselves off. Outside, the temporary withdraw was still going off and out of the corner of his eyes Fritz saw Reiner glance out one of the broken windows.

Achi had landed inside HQ right after Krista, sliding across the floor into a pool of blood. Her back had slammed against an overturned desk that some of the members of the now devoured Supply Crew had been hiding in and moaned. She was lying on top of something. Something wet and still warm. Hair and bits of tissue in chunks and pieces, and she lifted her hand to find it bloody and smelling of gunpowder. A body without part of its skull was lying in a pool of its own blood, a spent firearm clutched in one of its hands.

She turned her sudden shock in anger and kicked the body, then wiped her hands on its uniform and stomped away from it. "Krista! Ymir!" she shouted, glancing around for any signs of them, hearing muffled cries for help. A hand was poking out from a mess of broken furniture and scattered papers, and she pulled it out.

Krista was coughing and shaking her head free of dust from her own fall. "T-thanks, Achi." She sneezed and coughed again.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, where's Ymir?"

"Right here," she answered behind Achi.

Their conversation was cut short by Reiner's shouting and the smashing of the window, where the Titans had decided to break through at. Ymir looked over at the scene and smirked, Achi scowled, and Krista's eyes became wide. Were they all going to die here? Trapped like rats? Like the Supply Crew?

Jayce scrambled out of the way of a flying piece of debris from the smashed window and crawled on his hands and knees to Fritz, who was crouching down beside Sasha, and watched Jean approach the gaping hole in the wall. Everyone else was either trying to run away or cowering in fear unable to do anything but wait for their deaths.

But Jean, he just went up to the hole as if accepting his fate. Two Titans stared back at him with wide grins and Jayce couldn't peel his eyes away. Suddenly, the Titans disappeared and another Titan stood in their place, roaring at the ones it had knocked away. More windows were broken as Mikasa, Connie, and Armin made it inside. Everyone stared at them in surprise, thinking them to previously be dead, and Jean spoke up.

"Y-you're _alive!_"

Connie ran over to the hole and pointed at the Titan that had gotten rid of the other two. "Guys! That Titan is a fellow Titan killing anomaly, and on top of that, he has no interest in us at all! Mikasa and I eliminated the Titans around it and led it here, where the Titans are swarming! If we play our cards right, we can use it to escape from here!" There were hushed whispers from everyone else.

"What do you mean, using it?" Jean asked loudly. "Are you saying that it'll help us...? That's like a dream!"

"It's no dream!" Mikasa interjected. "I don't care if it's a Deviant or what, that Titan is going to continue its rampage here and realistically, that's our best means of survival!"

**—-—-—**

Fritz and Sasha were tasked with helping lift the elevator that Armin had requested down to the lower levels were everyone else waited and searched for more supplies while the Titan outside kept pummeling its former comrades. The roaring and shaking every other second caused Sasha to jump a bit as she reeled down her lever. Where was the Sasha mere hours ago?

"Hey, go down with the others, they'll need you more than me, we can manage up here." Sasha kept doing her task and didn't look up at him. "Sasha?"

"I'm fine...!"

"I'll handle yours, so... don't worry about it!" He waved her away and watched her start down the steps. The look she gave back, full of terror. When she went out of view down the winding steps, he slammed a fist into the lever. _For everything that's happened, he —!_

Jayce hefted the rifle he'd been given by Marco and inspected the firing mechanism. He glanced over at Jean who also had skepticism on his face.

The other boy ran his hand along the muzzle of his own firearm and turned to Armin who was crouched next to Mikasa with a map that showed the layout of HQ. "Will buckshot really even do anything...?" he asked. "I mean, using guns against _Titans_?"

Armin looked at Mikasa then him. "I think it's a lot better than having nothing, and even with this degree of firepower, it isn't impossible to incapacitate the seven three and five meter Titans occupying the supply room... and all at the same time."

He pointed to a section of the map where he'd circled where the elevator was to be lowered.

"First, we use the lift to lower most of us from the center of the ceiling. If those seven Titans are 'Ordinary', a large number of people should be enough to draw them to the center of the room. Next, the people in the lift will fire at the seven Titans' faces simultaneously, thus blinding them, and then the next instant will decide everything. Seven people hiding near the ceiling will swoop down in time with the ones firing and hit the vital points of the Titans. In other words: everything depends on this one attack. All of our lives are at stake. The point is for seven people to kill seven Titans in one stroke and all at once. The seven people with the most athletic ability probably have the best chance of striking home, so they'll do the job." He looked at each of the seven people he had in mind starting with Mikasa, then Jean, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Sasha, and lastly, Connie. "But... I'm sorry... they'll have to bear the burden of everyone's lives on their shoulders..."

"No problem!" Reiner commented and looked over at Bertolt who nodded in agreement.

"The risk's the same no matter who does it." Annie added and glanced over at Fritz, who had just arrived from finishing his task. "If one fails, then everyone dies."

Marco itched his nose and smiled awkwardly. "B-besides, I think we're all tapped out of ideas. So we just need to throw ourselves into this one, heart and soul!"

Fritz watched Sasha and Annie leave with the rest of them to get ready for their role in the plan as he grabbed a firearm himself. Only Sasha had looked back and smiled. Fritz continued to watch her until she went out of view again, as the elevator lift lowered fully and everyone on it got into position. He steeled himself and eased his hands on his firearm as the shaking started. _The Titans were coming_.

Seven of them, just like Armin had said. He gripped his firearm tighter as the Titans got closer and closer and the one he was aiming at opened its mouth, seeing the tops and bottoms of its teeth. His muzzle was right up against its eye the moment Marco gave them the order to fire and he quickly pulled down on the trigger. All at once, the Titans reeled back and clawed at their eyes which were no longer there as Annie, Sasha, and the others who were up on the support beams swooped down to deal the killing blows. Five out of the seven of them managed to hit their targets but Sasha and Connie had both missed their marks.

Fritz watched as Connie fell on his back and Sasha backed up into a wall. Marco yelled for the others to assist them before anything happened as Sasha frantically dived out of the way of her target's grasping fingers and cowered on the ground. At that moment Annie and Mikasa came to the rescue and finished off the two Titans.

Achi hefted the gas canisters she'd been carrying and laid them next to a pile that was already starting and stretched her back. She wiped her brow and glanced over at Fritz who was trying to calm Sasha down and scowled.

"I surrendered to a Titan!" Sasha exclaimed and shook her head back and forth. "H-how can I look at anyone after...?"

"Sasha..."

"I'll deal with her! This isn't the time for your bullshit!" Achi yelled. "Come on, Countrygirl!" She pulled Sasha to her feet and the three of them escaped HQ and started to head back to the Wall with everyone else who had the same idea.

Within minutes, they suddenly stopped on the rooftop they'd been running along. Jayce was there, staring at the Titan that had gone against its comrades earlier. It was being taken down.

"Move it!" Achi tried pushing him out of the way when he held her back.

"Wait! Look!"

The Titan broke free from his assailants, steam curling off its body as it had lost both its arms and then stumble as it finally fell to the ground. A person was visible in the nape of its neck. Mikasa had jumped down and grabbed the person, and as she hauled him up to a nearby roof where Annie, Reiner, Bertolt, Armin, and Jean had also been watching, Jayce realized who it was the moment she started crying...

"It's _Eren..._"


	9. Aftermath

**|X. Aftermath**

After HQ had been overrun and subsequently retaken, the Scouting Legion had helped to drive back the Titans and the day after had been focused on eliminating the remaining Titans so the area was safe. Countless rounds of cannon fire and dulled blades had been used to accomplish this. Two Titans had been captured alive in the end. The third had been for clearing debris and recovering the bodies of any casualties whether they be civilian or soldier. Identifying them took top priority and survivors went through each and every scrap of bone. Each and every bloodstain.

Fritz and Jayce looked down upon the body of Kalia Bendlin which was still sitting peacefully under the windowsill they'd left her against. The blood on and around her body had completely dried and her skin was pale in color from all the blood loss. There were no flies. Fritz stepped forward and touched her shoulder.

"I'm back, Kalia."

Achi moved out of the way as they exited the house and followed as they carried her body. She looked at Kalia's brown hair which wasn't curly anymore, being damp and loose, hanging down from her face. She thought of Kazue — they weren't able to get his body as it was still inside that Titan. By now, his body had dissolved and at the most was a mummified skeleton. Any remains were to be burned into ashes along with all the others to prevent the spread of disease, but what was the point if there was no body to be found? As they passed more dead and living alike, the dead were the overwhelming majority. Further along, around a bend was Annie, with Reiner and Bertolt.

Fritz stopped moving to watch Annie stare at an empty spot on the ground. He let go of Kalia and made sure she was safely placed on the ground before going over to where Annie stood. As he got closer, he heard the whispered words she was still repeating: _I'm sorry._

"I'm going to go and help around some more," Jayce said and looked at Achi, "can you take care of Kalia for me?"

She nodded as he went in the opposite direction, then watched as Fritz embraced Annie. A man with a clipboard, writing utensil, and mask covering the lower half of his face came and looked at the scene then down at Kalia's body.

"Do you know her name?" he asked bluntly.

"Kalia Bendlin, leader of Team 83, veteran member of the Garrison, Dot Pixis's Guard," she replied without peeling her eyes away from Annie and Fritz, standing over the spot where Mina's corpse was to have been.

**—-—-—**

Her senses were numb, she couldn't feel anything. She looked at her hand but couldn't move it. Was she paralyzed? No, she could still move the other parts of her body, it was just the hand that wouldn't move. Even the fingers wouldn't respond to her. She blinked. The sky was no longer there, the light was no longer there. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was passing out after colliding with that wall... and then... the Titan. It had reached for her, but what then? She looked at her hand again.

She was alive, that was for sure. But how? Why? She should have died back then. Where she was now... inside of a house? A basement? Everything was dark.

As she tried to rise, her eyes grew more accustomed to the darkness around her and a dark form was sitting on a chair against the wall. The dark form was that of a girl, her arms crossed and head bowed. She was sleeping. One of the girl's eyes fluttered open and focused on her. She yawned.

"Finally awake, so soon?" Mina just stared at her and she shrugged. "I really was betting on you to sleep some more, but this'll have to do. It's hard for me to get any sleep, you see, and... I bet you're wondering what you're doing here?" Mina nodded. "You were about to be eaten. I saved you, brought you here. Your body is still in shock from the head trauma you suffered. You've been recovering for a few days now."

"A few... days...?" Mina looked down at her hand, "Then... what about the rest of my team? Are they...?"

"Dead? I wouldn't know, but I assume so. If they hadn't been dead and I happened to find them, I'd have tried saving them too."

"I-I see... then... Trost, is it...?"

"We're directly below Trost. You probably figured this out already, but we're in a house's basement. The town itself is safe, they cleared out all of the Titans yesterday. It's early, but they're still cleaning up the damage and the dead. When I looked around up top, there was a giant boulder in the breach. Looks like they managed to plug it somehow."

"Please, you have to let me go! I thank you for saving me and tending to me all this time, but surely you understand! All of them probably think I died, I have to go back or—!" Mina could see her teeth flash even in the dark. They were more canine looking than a regular person's, sharp and pointy.

"I didn't do this out of the kindness of my heart. If I let you go you're going to have to answer some questions for me."

"W-what kind of questions...?"

The girl crossed her legs and looked at the ceiling for a second, then, "I've been... away... for _awhile._ Anything you can provide would be appreciated, and... if you would be so kind... your name."

"Isn't it common courteously to introduce yourself first?" Mina asked, fearful that the girl would lash out at her for the comment. But, the girl just laughed. Mina noticed now that her eyes were a very dark green, and her hair was tied in some old fashioned style at the ends. She was tanned and from what Mina could see, toned and muscular. A real female warrior. The girl sat beside her on the bed. Now even closer than before, Mina saw that she resembled Krista, vaguely.

"How rude of me, hah?" she said, her voice deep and masculine while still managing to sound femininely beautiful. "You can call me... Eliza..." She looked away briefly, as if she had a hard time believing that to be her name, "Yes, Eliza... that was it..."

"Mina Carolina."

"Mina, do you mind starting with the year? Everything is somewhat... _fuzzy_..."

**—-—-—**

Fritz watched Achi talk with another graduate she'd befriended, a girl named Eletta, and when she looked over, waved. She didn't wave back. He sighed and touched Kalia's necklace. His hometown had been finally cleared. The fourth day since then. Eren hadn't been dead as they all believed. Commander Pixis of the Garrison had revealed that Eren had transformed into a Titan during the fighting as a result of his father's research on them. With Eren's help, they'd plugged the breach with a giant boulder, but given the circumstances of a human being able to turn into a Titan, he'd been taken in for questioning by the Military Police and put under the watch of the Scouting Legion, and later today, the graduates were required to pick what branch of the military they wanted to be a part of.

He didn't really care about Eren's Titan power other than the fact that it would benefit them in their struggle against the Titans. Fight fire with fire, as Lex used to always say. He didn't care because he didn't tell anyone about it sooner. If he had, then everyone who died could've been saved. Kalia and Kazue... _Mina..._

"Every trainee present! Come to the meeting hall immediately!" a soldier cried loudly in front of the door to said meeting hall. He was holding a piece of paper, urgently reading. "We have reason to believe that there is a traitor in the military, so we have to do a thorough investigation and that means _nobody _is exempt! File in, on the double!"

The inside of the meeting hall was large, as one would expect, with long tables in rows all along the room. Behind each table was a member of the Military Police, each holding a stern expression, as the soldier from before was now issuing more instructions.

"You are to gather your 3D Maneuver Gear and place it on one of the tables in the room. Only three may be permitted to a table. Once you are situated, we will give you a paper where you are to write your name and other personal information. Once that is complete, you will wait until a member of the Military Police evaluates that you are clear of any traitorous actions. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

Fritz went to the nearest table, quickly took off his Gear, and placed it on the table. He looked over at Annie, who stood beside Connie and Armin, but she wasn't looking back.

"Earlier today, someone killed the two Titans we had painstakingly managed to capture after the retaking of Trost, and, as such, we will be thorough in weeding them out. We will now begin the evaluation of your Gear."

In the end, none of the trainees were found guilty of any treason and they were released hours later. All of them waited near the stage where they'd line up to choose their selected branch of the military. Though, after the recent events, nobody was all that excited. Not after Trost; not after being suspected of being traitors. There were doubts in everyone's minds.

"Graduates! Fall in, face front!" a voice roared over everyone else from the stage. Their selections were about to begin. A tall man with neatly parted blonde hair stood with his arms clasped behind his back and cast his gaze over everyone present. On his shoulder was the distinguishable emblem of the Scouting Legion: blue and white wings. Wings of Freedom.

"I am the Scouting Legion Commander, Erwin Smith. The King has granted me authority over all Scouting Legion activities. Today, you are to choose which division to join. The reason I'm here is to invite you to become a part of the Scouting Legion. In the recent Titan attack, everyone here experienced what the average excursion outside is like. I'm sure nothing else in your lives came close to it. Though you're trainees, you've experienced sacrifice. As a result, I'm sure you came to know your own limits and the terror of the Titans." Most of the graduates focused their eyes on everywhere but the stage, the rest not peeling their eyes away for even a second. "Nevertheless, while it's true we suffered heavy losses in this attack, the human race has advanced towards victory like never before. By now, everyone is aware of the existence of Eren Yeager. Through his actions and all of yours, the Titan incursion was halted and we have obtained a path to understanding the true nature of the Titans. I'm not at liberty to tell you much here regarding Eren, but believe me when I say that he's proven himself as an ally who's willing to lay his life on the line. And, we also know that in the basement of his old house in Shinganshina District, there are answers about the Titans that even he doesn't have."

They listened to the Commander talk about the survival rate of the Scouting Legion and his plans to retake Wall Maria despite them, because by his estimate, they had a chance if Eren was with them. After Wall Maria was taken, they'd secure a path to the basement of Eren's home, and then, try to learn more about the Titans. He didn't sugar coat his words once in his speech, and by the end of it nobody moved. After he dismissed the ones who'd rather join the other two branches, he patiently waited for everyone to leave to see who was left.

Only twenty one graduates stayed.

Fritz looked around; almost everyone he spotted he knew. He didn't think Krista would be up to joining the Legion. Sasha was also present, but she looked shaken and unsure of herself. The same went for Connie. Twenty one present; the newest members of the Scouting Legion. Fritz tried to peer out of the corner of his eye to catch any glimpse of Annie, but only caught the end of her blonde hair in its usual bun and sighed. The only thing he could possibly do now was search for Ines, and, again, he touched Kalia's necklace around his neck. Someone with a deep voice grunted in amusement and he glanced over. To his surprise, it was a girl. A little taller than him, she had a whimsical grin on her face that made the bangs nearly covering her sharp eyes menacing, adding to the look.

"Are you nervous, kid? Titans aren't so scary, once you get to know them..." She grinned. "Or are you thinking of someone?"

"My sister..."

"A sister? I had one of those... once..."

"Once?" He turned his head slightly toward her, "What happened to her?"

The girl just shrugged, and Fritz thought he saw her eyes flash in Ymir's direction. "She grew up. I used to play the role of the mother, since ours was never around. One thing led to another and, then, I never saw her again. I wonder _wherever_ she is, it's for the better. Yours?"

"She joined the Scouting Legion before Wall Maria fell and I haven't heard from her in recent years."

"You're worried... So am I, for mine. That's why we both joined the Scouting Legion, to protect them, make sure they're safe and cozy. Am I wrong? I'm not wrong, aren't I?" She smiled and there was something playful about it, like the cat that catches a mouse by its tail.

He didn't know how to respond and averted his eyes toward Commander Erwin instead. The girl just smirked in response. On the stage were other members of the Legion, and one of them was Petra, Kalia's and Ines's friend. He grasped at the trinket on Kalia's necklace.

Surely, she would know something...


	10. The Titan

**X. The Titan**

Fritz looked down at the reins of his saddle.

Most of the past month since they'd been admitted into the Scouting Legion had been learning how to ride a horse for the 57th Expedition outside the Walls, a deadly training preparation for the inevitable retaking of Shinganshina and Eren's basement later on. The whole thing made him uncomfortable.

The other thing they had to learn in the past month was the "Long Distance Enemy Scouting Formation". They had kept it relatively simple in explanation, and he'd been grateful for that.

The formation was comprised of different columns which all have different focuses such as command, support, and communications, spread out over a long distance. Generally, the soldiers in the first column were the first to come into contact with any Titans, and the procedure when that happened was also simple.

If a Titan is spotted, one was to shoot off a red colored signal flare. When someone else saw the flare, they are to do the same and fire off a red one of their own, and so on. Once the Commander saw the signal, he'd fire off a green colored flare in the direction he wanted the formation to go to next. Just to make sure everyone knows which way the formation will turn, everyone is supposed to shoot off a green flare in the same direction. This was to limit casualties and evade anymore potential Titans. Though, it only works on Ordinary variants, not Deviants. When faced with a Deviant, you fired a black colored signal flare and engaged it immediately.

He was in the third column, the fourth section, nearest the center, which was communications just like the third. He didn't have to watch a spare horse, which meant he had to keep everyone informed and alert on the situation. As he looked down at his supply of signal flares and the firearm itself, he wondered if he was up to the task.

Ahead, the gate that led out to Wall Maria stood, the emblem of Lady Maria staring down at him. Beyond the Wall was Ines. Petra had said his sister hadn't been with the Scouting Legion in the past month when he'd asked, as she was "on a special mission" and couldn't be reached as she was in Titan controlled territory with her squad.

He halted his horse in front of a wagon.

The wagons the Scouting Legion used were for transporting extra supplies and ordinance in case something went wrong, as they usually did on the expeditions. He and the other new recruits were positioned between the wagons and support teams, where they'd be in charge of communications and keeping an eye on the spare horses that the Legion would also bring along.

Selectively bred, the horses of the Scouting Legion were the only means of travel and escape on open ground from the Titans. Since they also weren't an interest to the Titans, this made them extremely valuable and keeping them on hand was a top priority, if a seemingly minor one compared to others.

And, as if on cue, Commander Erwin rose a blade high into the air, "This is it! Now the human race takes another step forward! Show me what you've learned! Open the gate! Launch the 57th Expedition outside the Wall! Advance!" At his command, everyone charged forward into the overrun territory of Wall Maria where the Titans were waiting.

Immediately surrounding them was an abandoned town, deserted five years ago during the first breach. Fritz glanced around as they zipped past houses and down now crumbling paved streets of the town as they looked for any signs of danger and he thought of the people who'd once lived here, but didn't have any time to dwell on it as there were warning shouts of a twelve meter class Titan approaching the line ahead, and he looked to see it get swarmed by the support team, having no time to focus on any other details as the Commander's voice rang in his ears.

"Advance! Advance! Keep advancing!"

He hunkered down and increased his speed to keep pace and they cleared the town shortly after, the terrain becoming open and vast, moving so fast that everything came as a blur of greens and browns. The paved street had turned into a dirt path trampled by countless horses when the Commander shouted for them to begin the Long Distance Enemy Scouting Formation. Fritz's section split off to the right, between the center and the outermost column, in a loose line. The girl from before rode up beside him holding a spare horse by its reins, eyeing him with a bored expression.

"You want this?" she asked as she offered him the reins. He shook his head and she shrugged. "Suit yourself kid."

Fritz was too focused on watching for any Titans and kept riding. In the distance, there looked to be a dark shape and he squinted against the sun. It was moving very fast and he wondered what it could be... Something was _odd_ about it.

"Hey, kid, if you have any flares, use them," the girl said behind him. "That isn't an ordinary Titan," she remarked and shook her head when she saw him pull out a green colored flare.

"How do you...?"

"Does it matter? Look at the way it's moving, it should be obvious that it isn't normal..."

He didn't need to be told twice and switched out the green for a black and lifted the firearm above his head. "Cover you ears!" The girl just laughed and he shot it off, both watching as it went high into the air. "Should we attack it?!"

"If you want to die earlier, go right ahead." She let go of her spare horse, kicking it in the direction of the Titan. The two of them watched it get crushed underfoot. "There's nothing stopping you."

"That horse was valuable!" His eyes went back to the Titan. It had the slender physique of a female, which he'd never heard of before, moving from its skinless stomach to her equally skinless chest. Pure muscle. Fifteen meters in height.

"Aw, did I hit a nerve? It's a female Titan," the girl said nonchalantly. Then, pointing over a shoulder in the opposite direction, "Just between you and me, I don't want to be its next plaything, so..."

"You want to run away?"

"Tactical _retreat_."

"Then I'll deal with it myself!"

"Don't die too fast!" She called from farther away than he'd remembered. He clenched his teeth and kept going forward.

Standing up in his saddle and balancing in the spurs so he didn't fall back and break his neck, he took out his blades. With a cry, he shot forward and aimed to catch it from around the side and at the nape of the neck. Before he even started to swing around, it covered its vital point and shifted its gaze to look at him. His momentum stopped as soon as this happened and his wires slacked as he sailed over its shoulder, about to plummet to a bloody death, when he felt a hard jerk that suspended him in mid-air. _The Titan had caught his wire!_ He twisted up to cut his wire free and as his blade just reached the steel of wire, felt something beneath his feet and looked down.

He was standing on the Titan's outstretched hand! He slashed at the muscle and it closed around him in response. It was going to crush him to death! He frantically tried to move his arms as the Titan brought him level with its own eyes. He didn't want to think what was about to happen next...

Nothing happened. Confused, he peeked slowly. It was just staring intensely at him. It blinked and he blinked back.

"Let me go, you bastard!" he shouted as he wiggled. The sound of its jaws opening turned his skin white as it... _grimaced?_ It had piercing blue eyes. Something was _familiar _about them... "A-Annie...?" he guessed in a quiet voice. The Titan's expression faded and it relaxed its grip. "Annie? Is that _you?_" he asked as he managed to get his arms up to rest on the tops of the Titan's gigantic fingers. The Titan let out an unintelligible sound from its throat, before it slammed him to the ground and continued on its way.

As he started to lose consciousness, he watched as the Titan took a glance back before increasing its speed further into the column. He heard horse hooves and the sound of someone approaching as his vision finally went dark...

**—-—-—**

"Hey, you awake?"

The girl from earlier nudged Fritz in the shoulder as she slumped in her saddle. She'd sat him behind so he didn't get trampled just lying out in the open unconscious. He swayed slightly and mumbled something as she went to nudge him again. "Heeeey kid..."

Fritz could feel something hit the side of his rips, leaning on the saddle he'd been placed on. He fell to the ground with a dry thud and rubbed his back, the girl laughing atop her horse.

"About time," she said. She sniffed and rubbed her nose. "So, you didn't die..."

"No thanks to you!" Fritz retorted and sprang to his feet, jabbing a finger at her. "I could have been in serious trouble!"

"You _were _in serious trouble." She ignored him and pointed in the direction she'd seen the Titan run off to, towards the central column. "And serious trouble just went that way."

"We have to follow it!" Fritz stumbled in a hurry to get moving. He winced at a sudden pain in his right side. Touching the area, there were cracked rips.

"You fell pretty hard, if I was you, I'd take it easy and—"

"No! We can't just let that Titan run around like it pleases! We have to stop it." He glanced down at his side, "And I have to make sure of something." He looked up to the girl with pleading eyes and held his hand out. "Please, we have to go!"

The girl stared down at his hand for a moment as she mulled it over, then bent to take his hand. As he swung over the back of the saddle, she leaned forward. "Hold on, kid, it's going to be a bumpy ride!" she exclaimed and kicked the sides of her horse, the two of them moving fast to catch up with the Titan.

As Fritz held on to the ends of the saddle, he contemplated what had happened back then.

He'd engaged the Titan, one he'd never seen before. It hadn't attacked him. _Why?_ Piercing blue eyes, shoulder length blonde hair, nose shape. The way it moved, the way it reacted to him. He looked down at his side which he was still clutching. _Annie..._

He and the girl were now hot on the tail of the Titan, the dust it was kicking up obscured their vision. The girl cursed with a cough and swung her reins to the left.

"Hold on! I'm going to get us out of this dust cloud!" she yelled as, expertly, she maneuvered just on the edge of the cloud where the dust was the thinnest, their view becoming clearer almost immediately. She glanced up at the Titan and scowled.

Fritz leaned around and stared at the girl's hands, cut deeply from how tightly she was grasping her reins, and couldn't help but feel useless. Since they'd caught up to it, they'd passed by the remains of other soldiers that had also tried to get in its way.

Most were dead, their bodies bloody messes in the grass that stained spots of crimson into a sea of green. Intestines, parts of arms, legs, bone. Tons of carnage that had been spread in this monster's wake and he clenched his teeth even harder than before. _Annie couldn't be..._

Just then, screaming, as another soldier was crushed flat against the palm of its hand, his blood hitting them like rain droplets. A second soldier tried in vain to take revenge for his fellow's death and quickly met the same fate, his body becoming just another spot of crimson in a sea of greens. The two of them ducked as it lifted its leg out and swiped away a line of soldiers on horseback, horses and riders alike crumbling to the ground in bloody broken heaps. Death stared back at them as they passed and the girl cursed again.

"She's really going all out, isn't she?!" she laughed cruelly, a true bloodthirsty laugh, whistling at the carnage. At all of the blood, all of the dead, all of the broken.

At all of the sorrow.

Fritz glared at her but didn't say anything as the Titan kicked another soldier on horseback like a child's ball and watched it fly away to land with a wet thud some distance away. Behind its foot was yet_another _soldier on horseback, who thought he'd stop it by slicing the tendons in the ankles. As his blade cut at the skinless flesh, the skin suddenly hardened, his blade shattering, the steel pieces cutting into his face. He yelped and went to touch the gashes when kicked out backwards. It hadn't even turned around, and the soldier didn't have time to react as he and his horse died without a last breath.

Something was familiar to Fritz about the way she swiped her legs, the style of her kicks, but he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to confirm what he already knew deep down. Yes, the only one with that type of combat style, those type of martial arts skills, was Annie Leonhart. The only one and yet...

He didn't want to believe it. Even as the horse the soldier had been riding crashed into them, all of them tumbling to the ground together.

_"It doesn't matter. None of this matters," she'd said. "Say that again and I'm really going to beat you up," she'd asked, hostile, but not really serious. Playful in her own way. "Hey, what makes a person good to you?" she had asked softly. _He hadn't understood fully_. "That hurt. To think you'd not hesitant to harm someone weaker than yourself." _What she had meant_. "My father." _To him, then_. "Does it matter if I meant it or not? What I said was the truth, and that's all that matters." _No, nothing matters. Everything matters_. "Unlike you, I'm not in a hurry to go and die. Deep down, I'm not as strong as you are." she'd said, voice quiet and far away. "I'm just a weak little girl who can't tough it out like guys such as yourself." _Liar_. "I'm not a coward." _Liar_. "I'm not running away." _Liar! _"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" she'd pleaded. "I failed. I promised her that I'd— dammit!" she'd cursed. _Her promise broken. Yet another that was_. "I'm sorry..." _Annie...

**—-—-—**

High up in the air, an emergency flare was seen and the girl shot off one of the boy's in response. He'd been knocked out again, laying sprawled on top of her now dead horse. She'd managed to free herself from under the dead soldier's equally dead horse, having pushed its carcass off her without much effort. She sniffed and sat down, looking at him.

"Just my luck," she said to herself and watched as green signal flares filled the sky, telling the formation to go west, not south like had been planned, taking out a green flare from the boy's pack, then following procedure by shooting it off and watching it soar high into the sky and dip westward, the trail of smoke dissipating shortly after. There was the sound of horse hooves approaching swiftly, what seemed to be four of them, and she waved them over. "Took long enough." She kicked Fritz hard enough in the side so she didn't have to do it a second time and his eyes opened almost immediately as he coughed up blood, which also caked the side of his head from the fall he'd taken. She hadn't bothered to deal with that, yet — and she wasn't going to, pointing over at the two approaching riders. "We're in luck, kid," she said as Ymir and Bertolt stopped just in front of them.

"Did you guys see the flares?" Bertolt asked quickly as he handed the girl the reins of his spare horse. "The formation's moving west now."

"He's not dead, is he?" Ymir nodded at Fritz who looked dazed and wobbly on his feet. "Can we leave him?" Her eyes wandered to the girl. The girl grinned and she scowled back.

"No, he's fine. Give me the other horse," the girl commanded and took the reins from Ymir, handing them to Fritz and getting on the horse Bertolt had given her.

Fritz clutched the reins tightly between his fingers and glared up at her. Rage and passion filled his bright green eyes. He wanted an explanation. He wanted answers. He wanted to see Annie.

The four of them saddled on their horses and went westward, towards their new destination: a forest.

Bertolt scanned ahead and frowned. "A forest...?"

"What else could it be?" Ymir retorted rudely.

"The way to our deaths?" the girl answered.

Forests of giant trees were scattered inside and outside the Walls alike, though scarce. Trees of massive size, thousands upon hundreds growing wildly here and there, and nobody knew why. Some have placed blame on the soil; that the soil is so rich the trees just can't get enough, their roots reaching down deep in the earth and tangling around, the saplings growing until full size. _Gigantic_.

Before Wall Maria had fallen, some sites where the trees were prominent were used as attractions for travelers and tourists from the Inner Wall, where none existed. Though, now that it has fallen, Titans have overrun most of them and they've become unmanned fortresses with unruly paths and overgrown vegetation. Most of the pathways were, thankfully, clear thanks in part to the Titans, who constantly roam through them and trample everything flat. The Scouting Legion also used these giant forests to their advantage during expeditions, as the Titans are too simple minded to climb trees.

Fritz looked up at the trees that loomed over his head and those of the others, awed at how small he was compared to most of them. The formation had been dissolved in favor of sheltering inside the forest, where the central column had went further in. To ensure that the wagons weren't swarmed by any approaching Titans, Commander Erwin had what remained of the right and left flanks to stand high atop the branches of the trees to distract any dangers that may arise. Command had built a base of operations near its edge but still far enough so they wouldn't be exposed and Fritz looked down, but couldn't see anything but lower branches and Titans. He and everyone else who wasn't permitted any further into the forest were on guard duty: they were to not let the Titans get any further than the forest's edge.

He watched as a seven meter class clawed at the bark of a tree down below and tried to get to the man farther up, wondering what Annie was up to. If she _was_ that Titan, then that meant she'd be the same as Eren, right? He scratched his head, then looked down at one of the blades in his hands as he continued to absentmindedly watch the Titan. If Annie was like Eren, then that meant she was a human experiment as well, didn't it?

"Don't fall off," the girl he'd been with since they'd left Karanese said. She was sitting on a branch opposite of his with her knees dangling over its edge, looking extremely bored. "It's a long way down." She let a hand out flat and then pointed at her palm and squished the finger, using a _splat _sound effect. Then, she rubbed her hands together and yawned, leaning back. "If I knew this is what we'd be doing, I'd have rather been squashed by her."

"Really?"

"Really. One dumbass coming your way," she said and nodded downward. What looked to be a five meter class came up to his tree trying to grab at him, obviously unable to reach. The girl sighed and started to fan herself. "For once, I'd like to see one with at least a tiny ounce of a brain."

Fritz didn't listen to her ramble on about wanting to see one of them figure out how to climb and continued to think about Annie. The appearance of the Titan. It was definitely her, there was no doubt in his mind now. _But why..._? Explosions and other large sounds were now coming from deeper in the forest. Nobody moved a muscle, even as the Titans below continued in their clumsy attempts to climb.

"Noisy..." Ymir commented next to him and turned to Bertolt. "Say, Bertolt, you see Krista around anywhere?" she asked as she scanned the branches for the smaller girl.

Bertolt shook his head. "No, I have no idea where she could be."

Ymir clicked her tongue and turned to him instead. "What about you, Fritz?"

"No, I haven't."

"Aren't you going to ask me?" the girl said, now lying on her back without a care in the world. "I might know where she is. Maybe..."

"Do you?"

The girl waved a hand around. "She's probably on one of these branches."

"Thanks _smartass_."

At that moment, an inhuman roar echoed throughout the area and drowned out everything else. Again, nobody moved.

"What the hell was that?!" someone shouted. All the Titans had stopped clawing. Then, they all rushed into the forest, ignoring the guard completely.

"Why the hell are they ignoring us all of a sudden?!" Connie yelled as he looked down at the mass of them all moving in one direction. "Every last one of them is a Deviant!? What's up with that?!"

"Who cares! Don't let them get through! Everyone, engage! _Engage!_"

At the ranking soldier's command, they rushed down to get as many of them as they could. They slashed at the napes of necks and immobilized others, but no matter how many there were, there were just _too _many. Most of the Titans broke through and the tide was seemingly endless. After awhile, the ranking soldier ordered everyone to cease the attack and go back to their perches. It was hopeless, so why waste their time doing it? High up in the air, a signal flare was seen clearly by all: the retreat signal.

"Finally! We can go back!" Connie exclaimed.

Everyone let out long held sighs of relief and were starting back to mount their horses that were tethered a fair distance away when another roar, a series of them, was heard. Their intensity was so much that everyone again stopped in their tracks to look deeper into the forest.

Fritz held onto the side of a tree, digging his nails into the bark.

_"Eren?!" _Mikasa shouted and went deeper into the forest at an incredible speed, obviously coming to some realization herself. Sasha was yelling after her but she wasn't stopping.

People were either trying faster to get out of the forest or caught up watching the vapor trail that Mikasa had now left behind. Fritz took one look back the way they had come in, where their horses were waiting and shook his head, turning to where Mikasa had went instead.

With a slight hesitation, he followed Mikasa's quickly evaporating 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear trail and ignored Sasha's cries as well. As he zipped past trees and swung on branches via his wires, he still couldn't help but think of anything but Annie, even Ines.

He wanted to see her again.


	11. Shift

**X|. Shift**

She had to move, she had to break free. Eren was on top of her, his hands steaming as they rapidly regenerated from trying to bash her face in earlier. Even in Titan form, she could see that he was filled with bloodlust, a hunger that wanted to rip her apart for the deaths of his comrades. A pause. Eren wasn't moving now. _Now was her chance._

With a speed unmatched, she grabbed his forearm, blocking a punch with a shoulder and grasping the joint of his other arm, holding him in place. Reaching up, she clawed into his jaw. _She just had to..._

He roared as she fully twisted her body and kicked him with full force, watching as he collided with a tree and slid down its length. In the second it took for her to get to her feet again, his fist came right under her jaw, an uppercut, and she just barely evaded the heavy blow; fist scraping cheek as she rolled free. With a large outstretched hand she quickly sprang back and her equally large eyes widened with surprise. _He was already going for another strike!_

Holding up a hand to intercept, she fell back and made eye contact. All she saw was a power that he couldn't yet control. She avoided his strike and all the others he tried throwing at her thereafter, barely missing some of them. One had caught her off guard and she had to duck suddenly, to which he took the opportunity to strike directly at her face. Again, she barely avoided the blow, having to skid a safe distance backwards. A safe enough distance for a counter.

As Eren leaped to close the small gap, a fist raised to yet again strike, she hardened the skinless muscle of her hand and curled it into a tight fist and, as soon as he swung and she ducked out of the way, slammed the fist up into his jaw — obliterating it. The jaw was ripped from his Titan's mouth and before she could even catch a glimpse of her handiwork, he made eye contact again. _All that bloodlust and rage_...

Slamming a fist into her gut and lifting her off her feet, her body sailed high into the air and impacted hard against a tree. Dazed, she could hear him roar in triumph and again had to move out of his way from his knee as the tree snapped where she'd just been a split second before. Someone in a rush to die was overpowering her in a fight. Yet, she knew that it was an inevitability. Fritz flashed through her mind and her eyes hardened. She turned slowly and looked into Eren's half mangled face and slowly approached. With blinding speed, she swiped her leg high and split Eren's head horizontally above the nostrils, her kick so powerful that the tree next to him also split in half, watching what was left of the head roll away, his rage defeated, putting a hand on his neck and expanding the muscles in her jaw to bend down for the nape of his neck...

"Eren!"

That voice. _Mikasa. _She turned just in time to glimpse her black hair as the other girl's blades sliced at her shoulders and created deep gashes. She guarded the nape of her neck and focused on retreating now that she had Eren secure in her mouth. Mikasa slashed her legs to slow her down by cutting the tendons and evaded her counter and went along her arm, only to be shaken off and knocked into a tree.

Annie increased her speed. _She had to get away. _Mikasa, though, was determined just as she was, as she felt herself falling to her knees. Mikasa took the opportunity to cut at her again, this time aiming for the nape of neck. Though, as soon as her blades made contact with her fingers, they shattered and she was forced to retreat again.

"I know he's alive! I know it for sure! Eren is _alive_!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her pulling out spare blades.

Not wanting to deal with her anymore, she took the opportunity to dash again, hearing Mikasa screaming Eren's name again as she was quickly moving farther and farther away.

She had to get away.

**—-—-—**

He could see her lying against a branch. "Annie!" Coming closer, he planted his feet on the side of the tree via his 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear. "Annie! Can you hear me?!"

Annie's eyes fluttered slowly, but she didn't look up. She moved her arm a little and clutched the fabric of her uniform. There was a tears in her eyes and her skin was faintly steaming. He moved to touch her.

"I wouldn't, she's still healing," someone said behind him. He knew that voice...

With her arms crossed, the girl he'd had to deal with for a month and a half stood on an adjacent branch. He gave her a quizzical look and went to reach for Annie's arm once again, going from the side of the tree to the branch and kneeling in front of her. The tears were still there. Most of them had dried. He went to touch her cheek and — _pain. _Twisting pain. His arm was pulled back and he couldn't move it. Someone had a firm, very strong, grip on his forearm.

"Wha—?" He turned and met the girl's eyes. She was now behind him on the same branch along with Annie.

"I told you not to _touch her yet._" the girl repeated, her expression cloudy. With a nod towards Annie, she let go and looked around. "This place is really messed up," she said in a low voice.

Fritz now took the time to look at his surroundings. The area was in disarray. Broken trees and upturned soil everywhere. Blood. He went back to Annie. The steam coming off her body... it was the same as a Titan's... and... _even so..._ "How long will it take for her to heal?"

"A couple of days, at the most."

"How do you know that?"

"Know what?"

"How do you know she's trying to heal her wounds?"

"Is this the part where I tell you my life story, or does that come later?" she replied jokingly, eyes flashing with a mischievous glare.

"Nevermind... forget I said anything," he sighed and stood up, "I have to get her out of here."

"Well don't look at me," the girl said as she raised her hands.

"Then why are you even here if not to help out?!"

"I was bored." She shrugged and Fritz gave her a questionable look. "_What? _I can't be bored? Name's Eliza, by the way, long as we're being civil."

"Friedrich, but you can call me—"

She pointed at Annie, "Uh, kid, sleeping beauty's awake..." Fritz got a fistful of surprise then, falling on his behind as she laughed.

"What..." Annie croaked slowly as she panted heavily, the one punch having exhausted her already. "What... are you... doing here, Fritz...?"

"Oh, is this a lover's quarrel?" Eliza interjected.

"And... who... are you...?"

"That doesn't matter right now!" Fritz exclaimed and grasped her shoulders. "What happened here?!"

"I... I'm..." Her eyes widened as Fritz now embraced her. Annie shakily, reluctantly, embraced him back. _Fritz... _She used him as a support to stand up. She grimaced, wounds still healing. Very slowly.

"We need to get you out of here," he said and Eliza clapped her hands together.

"I'll lead the way!" she exclaimed and pointed to the right. "This is the way we came, so that's the way we'll go!"

**—-—-—**

Achi watched the stars as they appeared in the night sky, she leaning against her post on the Wall. Guard duty, it was a boring job, but at least she was defending her home. She wouldn't let another Wall fall under her watch, never again. She didn't want others to die for her, either.

"You think they're alright?" Eletta asked next to her.

"Don't know," Achi replied. She caught a glimpse of movement down by the gate and recognized two of the three forms: one a stupid bastard and the other a betrayer. She scowled and motioned Eletta closer, telling her to watch the post while she went down to see what was up.

The three of them had arrived on horseback, two riding on one horse together, and Achi put her hands on her hips as the gate closed behind them. The one in front she didn't recognize, but she immediately noticed that idiot's dumb face and, even though the other's face was obscured by a hood, the other she knew all too well. Motioning the other guards to let them pass, walking with them for a ways, leading them further, she eased them away from prying eyes and eavesdroppers. The girl she didn't recognize sniffed and looked down at her briefly, then turned in the saddle.

"Who's the midget?"

"I'm not a midget! What the hell are you three doing here?! The Legion already came through, so why are you just now coming through?! Answer me!"

"We were sightseeing," the girl replied with a smirk.

Achi forced them to dismount and stared between them. "I said: _answer _me." Her glare wandered to the girl under the hood and, lunging forward, grabbed her by the collar. "Annie, what are _you _doing here?" Annie didn't respond. Neither did the other two. She couldn't take it anymore, removing the hood to reveal her blonde hair no longer in a bun, hanging freely around her ears. Her former best friend's eyes looked distant and Achi pulled her down and punched her. Annie didn't fight back.

"Achi! That's enough!" Fritz exclaimed as he got between the two of them. "This isn't the time for explanations! Let us pass to the Stohess District and we'll tell you everything there!"

Achi glared at him. "I can't get you all the way there, only a person authorized by the Military Police can get you past the inner checkpoints." She turned her glare towards Annie. "Like _her_."

"Then, can you get us as far as you can?"

"Fritz... just what the hell is going on...?"

"He said he'd explain later," the girl interrupted.

"I didn't ask _you_."

"Eliza."

"What?"

"The name is Eliza."

"Does it look like I give a shit? Fritz, tell me now or I won't go any further!"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."

Achi weighed her options after a moment of thinking. "If I... get you to the inner checkpoints... will you take me along...?" she glanced over at Annie then went back to Fritz, "I want you to tell me _everything_."

**—-—-—**

"Captain, we can't stay here much longer..." Alger said as he peered out into the gloom between the trees.

Zena chimed in from atop a high tree branch, "Alger's right, Captain, the Titans are swarming all over this area. It's only a matter of time before—!"

Captain Ines held up a hand to silence her. "Riecka, collect the others' badges, I'll get this one's. The rest of you: Alger, Zena, Larrens — watch the perimeter for any Titans. If any of them get close, deal with them swiftly."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Ines knelt down in front of the tree smeared down the middle with dried blood. Staring back at her were dead eyes that she knew well. Dead eyes that had once belonged to one of her dearest friends, and now, she was the last of them still alive.

She wondered if Kalia and Petra had went out the way they wanted to, living the lives they chose. She couldn't shed any tears, it wasn't the time. She parted her friend's hair, warm brownish orange hair that looked so beautiful even in death, and felt a fourth hole open up in her heart. Underneath Petra's hand was a flower, soaked in her blood.

Ines plucked it and took out her book, the one she kept her promises in, and carefully placed the flower in a new page and closed it, then took a long look at her friend's corpse, and finally took the badge from her shoulder — the Wings of Freedom that she'd been so proud of — placing them in her pocket along with Kalia's Garrison badge she'd managed to salvage. Tokens of remembrance for the fallen.

"We're moving on," Ines commanded as she stood, motioning for her squad to gather round. "We still have to check for more signs. This isn't the time to be slacking off. And, once we've finished, round up the bodies for burning, we can't leave them to get fed upon."

"Right!"

Even as she said the words, she couldn't help but glance back down. Thinking of Isabel Magnolia and Farlan Church, she smiled sadly and thought, in that moment, that she and Captain Levi weren't as different as she had first believed. Though, to not recover the bodies after the expedition had ended... she touched the hilt of one of her father's short blades...

Something significant must have happened for them, especially _him_, to abandon the fallen so hastily and she could only think of one cause: _the Titans._

**—-—-—**

He pushed her into the wall and boxed her in so she couldn't escape. The quiet of Karanese was all around them, not a soul in sight except Achi, who was still piecing together all that they'd told her.

The three of them had just gotten back from helping Annie to her quarters, upon which she had immediately passed out from over-exertion. Fritz grit his teeth and glared at her, at the girl who called herself Eliza. She'd revealed Mina was alive, that she'd saved her during Trost. That she'd joined the Scouting Legion also, and, if that was the case...

"What all do you really know?" he asked, "What was that back there, how could Annie be a Titan like Eren?! And where's Mina?! She wasn't with us during the expedition..."

Eliza's grin widened. "If I were to tell you now, it'd ruin the surprise."

"Tell me!"

"Alright," she took his arm and knocked it aside, the same hand clasped around his throat a second later, "I'll tell you." She forced him back and let go. "Give me the space I need first, it'd be a bother to explain things to you while you're breathing down my neck like that. I'm not looking to fight anyone here, but if you try to subdue me, I won't guarantee your safety."

"Just get on with it, we can't linger here for long." Achi interjected, "I just want to get all of this figured out before it gets to a point where _I can't._"

"So quick to regain composure. An admirable trait. I'll start with that girl, the one who can shift into a Titan at will."

"Her name is _Annie_, and what do you mean by 'shift'?" Fritz said.

"She has the ability to turn into one of them. She can go between her human and Titan form at will, but, by the looks of it, she has to rest for a time before using it again. You also said this Eren can shift also? Then," her gaze went to the right briefly, "I guess there are more of them this time."

"But how can they do it? There must be—"

"I wouldn't know that, or, rather, the meanings to do so have changed since I've been around. And, as for the other one, Mina, she's safe, I assure you. No harm will come to that girl from me, anyway."

"And she is...?"

"Gathering information for me. She went off to fill in the blanks she couldn't tell me herself. A kind girl, that one. That's why she wasn't on the expedition, because she was helping me."

"There's more you aren't telling us, but I guess I don't have a right to force anything out of you. I'm not the type of person to do that, but whatever you're hiding, there may be others who won't have it."

Eliza laughed, her expression darker. She leaned in and closed the distance between them in one smooth motion. "Why are you willing to go to such lengths to worry about me?"

Fritz's eyes went to the ground, his voice a whisper, "I owe you it. After what had happened during the expedition... I never did say thanks. So... thanks."

She reeled back and blinked. "Oh? Unexpected..." Peering over his shoulder, she smirked when she caught Achi's eye. "I've met some interesting people, haven't I?"

"Sun's almost up, so you two should hurry if you don't want to be scolded by whoever your superior officer is." Achi crossed her arms and inclined her head down the street. "Gate's that way."

"Take me to where Mina is. I have to talk with her." Mina needed to know about Annie, what she could do. This Titan-Shifting ability of hers. Maybe... since Eliza didn't give him the answer he wanted... _maybe_ she found something about it in her information gathering.

"Fine, but on the way you have to answer my questions this time."

"Leave already, dammit." Achi pushed him on, then glared at Eliza to do the same. The older girl obliged and patted her on the head as she passed. Though, Achi didn't retaliate and instead sighed as she looked back in the direction of Stohess.

**—-—-—**

Mina was in the local library in Trost, where the Scouting Legion was currently resupplying. It was also close to their headquarters outside the District in a secluded area within Wall Rose. A stack of dusty books were beside her, each one detailing the history of humanity in different periods. The one she was focused on had to do with the state of humanity a few decades go. Hunched over it, she struggled to make most of the information out.

She heard footsteps and looked to see Ymir coming towards her, a candle in one hand. If not for the light provided by the candle, Mina would have easily mistaken her for Eliza. Ymir came up to the table and her eyes went to the stack of books briefly before focusing back on her.

"What's all this?" she asked, examining one as she picked it up. Her eyes widened a fraction as she took notice of what it was about and then went to the others, scattering them and inspecting their covers. "What," she turned to her, "do you think you're doing digging this shit up? What's the use in bringing up the past?"

"Information." Mina replied pointedly. "I'm helping someone gather it. She said it was important that I find out as much as I possibly can."

"About what specifically?" Mina went silent as the candle flickered between them. Ymir scowled as the silence grew. "Don't tell me then, but whatever it is," she pushed a book towards her, the date of publication being nearly a hundred years ago, "don't trust the person you're doing this for." Ymir turned to leave. "And we're leaving first thing in the morning for a patrol of Wall Rose. Make sure to be there. That's what I was requested to tell you and my reason for being here." The door shut behind her with a thud and she left Mina in the dark again.

"Don't trust Eliza?" Mina said to herself, her eyes resting on the book Ymir had pushed towards her. She had a feeling Ymir was trying to tell her something and opened the book and began reading. It was the story of the King at the time and his brother, who had a daughter... and the daughter's name had been...

_Eliza._

Ymir took one last look at the entrance and thought if she should go back and warn Mina about what she was delving into, but decided against it in the end. A lot of time had passed since then, but she should have been quicker to put two and two together. Though she now sported a shorter hairstyle and slightly different accent, Ymir was certain it was the same person as back then. _Eliza. Skrymir._

The two of them were one and the same.

**—-—-—**

In the end, Fritz never got the chance to talk to Mina, he and Eliza forced to go back to Scouting Legion Headquarters where they were apprehended and questioned as to their absence. Neither of them had revealed anything about Annie having the same ability as Eren, but both of them had been put on surveillance the next few days as two things happened.

One, a detachment was sent out that comprised of most of the former 104th Trainee Corps to patrol Wall Rose and second, only a handful of them stayed behind, conducting meetings which Fritz nor Eliza were allowed entry into. Then, a few days more passed when they'd finally gotten word of what all the secretiveness had been about.

Annie Leonhart had been identified as the Titan that had attacked the 57th Expedition and her capture was to commence the next day.

She had been dubbed the _Female-Type Titan._


	12. Leonhart

**X||. Leonhart**

_"Just let me ask you one thing," he'd said, head bowed and hands on her shoulders, "I want you to treat the whole world, this cruel world, as your enemy.__Even if... even if the whole world will curse and resent you, remember that your father will always, always, _always_, be on your side. __So please, promise me you'll come back."_

Walking through the streets of Stohess now, Annie listened to the sounds of her boots as she led her three fellow graduates along, glancing around for any signs of danger. With the three of them looking so suspicious — raincoats in the middle of this heat that had swept through suddenly, hoods up — one could never be too careful, noticing that the number of people in the area besides themselves was getting smaller and smaller the farther they walked.

A horse pulled cart passed them by under a low archway. Behind it was a woman and her child, and as Annie looked over, she remembered her own mother. A hazy blur underneath the shadow of her imposing father. All she remembered was the training.

Looking over at Armin, she could see the tension that he was trying to hide on his face, feeling eyes on the back of her head. She smiled faintly, barely even noticeable, at the dog who was so loyal to her handler. Her loyalty held her down by chains that she couldn't escape. The tension grew as she looked over again, a bead of sweat dropping from Armin's chin, and she felt the dog's eyes shift to the right, at her handler, and his eyes wandered— _a signal._

She turned her eyes toward Mikasa now; the dog. "Mikasa, is something wrong?" she asked, seeing a hint of surprise on the other girl's face. That was all the confirmation she needed now: "For some reason," she questioned, turning her head to look at the narrow side street around them; the lack of people. "There's been no one around us for a while now." Tightening her muscles, proceeding to look at the ground beneath her boots, she sighed, "I'm hurt, you know? Since when did you start looking at me with _those_ eyes?" she asked as she saw Armin gulp.

"Annie, how come you were in possession of Marco's 3D Gear?" he asked, voice shaky. Annie averted her eyes, turning her head to the side as if something else had caught her eye down the street. "I remembered the little scratches and dents," Armin continued, "because him and me performed routine maintenance on our Gears together. From that, I knew it was his."

"I-I see," Annie replied quietly, listening to the sounds around her. The movement. "I just... found it." She watched his eyes widen in some revelation.

"_Then—!_ The one who killed those two Titans the Scouting Legion captured alive... was _you_, Annie?"

"Maybe, maybe not, but," she looked up, towards the sky, "if you came to all these conclusions a month ago," she turned her gaze to Armin, staring into his eyes, "then _why?_ Why didn't you take action right then?"

Armin just stood with his mouth agape, and seconds passed before he stumbled an answer. "I still can't believe it, even now. I had thought there was a mistake somewhere in my train of thought! I wanted to think there was...! That's why... that's why I didn't—! _But—!_It's because you didn't kill me when you had the chance that things turned out the way they are now!"

"Yeah... from the bottom of my heart I agree. I couldn't have even imagined that _you_ would track _me_ down and corner me here." _No_, of course she had thought of the possibility. She tried preventing a smile from forming on her face, making it come out as a crooked grin. "That time, why didn't I kill you, I wonder..." she questioned aloud.

"Hey! Annie! There's still a chance!" Eren yelled, removing his hood. "That you're just an unfortunate idiot who thoughtlessly backed up some asswipe's shitty joke!"

She pulled back from the three of them. "I'm... I'm a failure as a warrior."

"I told you already! Don't be a fool!"

"Talk to us Annie! We can still settle this by talking to each other!"

"_Enough._" The stern voice of Mikasa halted the two of them in their tracks. She removed her raincoat, tossing it aside along with the pack she was carrying. "I can't stand listening to this anymore," she proclaimed, pulling out one of her blades. "This leads us _nowhere!_" Poising the blade at her side, she brandished it at her target, "I'll cut you into pieces once again," she kept her eyes trained on Annie, watching for any sudden movements, "_Female-Type Titan!_"

Turning her attention from the two who had been trying to reason with words, Annie instead cast her eyes on the dog that bared her fangs. She was waiting for Mikasa to say something, and it looks as if she wouldn't be _disappointed._She couldn't contain the sensations she felt when she looked into the dog's hateful eyes. She couldn't help but... _smile._

"Armin," she called out, staring into his blue eyes, "aren't you glad?" She continued to flash her teeth. "Aren't you lucky that I was such a 'good' person to _you_? For now, you won the gamble." Her father's gold ring shining in the sun, she acted as if she were going to bite her finger. "But, what _I_ gambled on is only just _starting!_"

Moving her other hand to her 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear, she then inched the finger closer to her mouth, and as Armin shot off the signal flare, quickly glanced to the sides. Sliding one of her blades out of its metal sheath in one swift movement, she spun on her heel and tore through clothing, skin, muscle, and bone as it cut across her would-be ambushers. Their blood sprinkling her body, she pointed the red tinted blade down at the corpses. All the excitement caused had it to appear again; that smile.

Without looking up, she addressed them. "Do you see now? There is no way someone like you can understand the feelings of a frail, weak _girl_ like me," she said as her smile widened, "And I really am a _frail_ and _weak_ warrior." _It hurt_. "And now, you've forced my hand." She could feel Mikasa's murderous eyes.

"I knew I should have killed you back then, you—"

"_Monster_?" Annie finished for her. A tear rolled down her cheek — it stung. _It hurt_. The urges just wouldn't stop once they've started.

"I'll finish what _I_ started back then, and kill you here and now!"

"A fight between _two_ monsters, huh?" Glancing at the bloodied weapon in her hand, she remembered Mina's homely, and friendly, face. _It hurt._ "Then I'll go along, so come on!" She had barely gotten the last of her words out before Mikasa ran at her with all the fury of hell behind her, quickly shooting a wire hook out.

Impacting with a tower, her wire hook biting hungrily into the stone and feet now firmly planted, she glanced back to see exactly what she had expected: Mikasa coming up behind her and _fast_. She could felt the air from behind as it was sliced in two with a blade and exhaled as she landed on the roof. She tumbled out of the way of an attack from above.

"This is a continuation of our fight from back then," she said, leaning a bit on her blade. "To see which of us is the better _monster_," looking away briefly, cannons were aimed at their position from atop the Wall, "because I wouldn't call us human. Right, Ackerman?"

"Right." Mikasa replied darkly, pointing her blade at her. "We'll continue that fight from before."

Sparks flew as metal struck metal. First one strike, then a second, then a third. The blows knocked her back when the dog managed to slash her uniform and she hastily swiped Mikasa's feet from under her. Mikasa broke the fall and went for her jaw with a kick. Catching it, Annie spared no hesitation in twisting her ankle and moving back. Wiping a trickle of blood from her chin as she got up, there was no weapon in Mikasa's hand and she cracked her knuckles. Hand to hand combat.

A swift jab at her left, then another. She stretched her leg out and swiped up high in order to create enough distance between the two of them, having already anticipated the outcome. The dog was a lot stronger than herself and the fight wouldn't last long if it continued like this. She was positive that she could fight her off and escape, but didn't want to be exhausted by the time she reached her target.

Crouching as Ackerman went for a high kick, Annie dived under her leg and came up behind her; locking her arms around her shoulders and neck. Using the momentum of Mikasa's kick, she kicked her other leg from under her and spun her over her shoulder. As Mikasa lay on her back, Annie ran to the edge of the roof and tried to pin-point where Eren was quickly.

This time she wouldn't let him escape. This was what she's gambled on, after all, as she bit down on her finger, drawing blood_. It was warm._

**—-—-—**

Annie glanced quickly all around at the cannons positioned on the Wall and instinctively covered the nape of her neck. She had found Eren and had almost gotten him – this second time she'd make sure her hand came back with him clasped inside. Peering down at the street, she wondered where they'd be this time, and left her hand along the stone pavement for any small signs of movement that could be felt. There was nothing. Her eyes widened before she caught a glimpse of what she feared as it slammed into her jaw and sent her flying into a building. The impact had taken her jaw and it steamed as it slowly regenerated itself. She looked up into the sky as she lay on top of the building and a memory she'd forgotten floated to the surface.

_A sip of today's soup. It tasted horrible, but it kept her attention enough so she didn't have to listen to the annoying braided-haired girl across the table. She was about to take another sip when Mina's next words froze the spoon halfway to her mouth._

_"As friends."_

_She didn't have any friends, and looked up. "What do you mean '_as friends_'? We aren't anything of the sort. You just sit by me and start random talks about nothing important."_

_"That's what friends do, and, Annie, I view you as my number one friend here! Other than Fritz... of course..." Mina exclaimed happily, then pouted childishly. "But I wish you'd at least talk to me once in a while like he does! It's like I'm talking with myself most of the time — do you remember when I told you that I improved my balance with the 3D Maneuver Gear recently?"_

_"Why?"_

_"So I can get in the top ten!" Mina replied, waving a hand. "I've always wanted to—"_

_"Why do you consider me a number one friend?"_

_"Oh, that! Isn't it simple? It's the same reason I like Fritz!" she said, leaning forward again, "I like talking to you, and I believe that underneath that quiet exterior is a great person just ready to burst out!" Her smile was wide and almost blindingly happy. "I want us to become best friends, Annie!"_

_"No. Fritz can be your friend all he wants to, but I don't accept you as one."_

As the memory faded, Annie felt a tear well at the corner of her eye. _Why?_ Friends, she hadn't wanted to admit it then, but Mina was in fact a friend to her. The tear rolled down her cheek and evaporated in the heat that was emanating from her jaw. _Mina..._Annie sat up and shook her head then looked down at the damage she had done to the building — she had crushed it and the people inside. Underneath one of her hands was a dead woman with blonde hair and blue eyes and she was immediately reminded of her mother.

She didn't want to see her mother now — not at a time like this. Getting up slowly, she took one last glance at the dead woman before starting off at a dead sprint down the street. She could hear soldiers behind her as they gave chase — but her only thoughts were what was right in front of her: the Wall. Hearing them shout and curse, she stopped suddenly and swiped the tops of the buildings closest to her, watching as debris rained down on the startled soldiers and townspeople. She didn't want to hurt anyone down there, but she had to get away. She was about to turn back to the Wall when a blur flew across her vision and slashed at her nose — making deep gashes that bled and steamed profusely. Snapping her head at the culprit, she saw the familiar face of the dog as Mikasa Ackerman glared hatefully back. The world went dark.

Annie cupped her massive hands around her two eye sockets, blind and semi oblivious to what was going on around her. With blood pooling out of the two holes and streaming down the sides of her face, she knew she couldn't stay like this forever, leaving the nape of her neck unprotected. Mikasa would use that to her advantage. She focused all her regeneration on her left eye — the one furthest away from Mikasa's viewpoint. Annie had heard the general direction of where Mikasa had landed; her wire as it retracted; the sounds of her boots on the shingles of the roof. The sounds around her amplified, and she slammed into the side of a building, destroying part of it. She didn't care anymore, all she cared about was living.

_All that really matters is doing what you have to in order to survive._

If she was going to do that, she'd need her sight back. That was her only concern. As she continued to flail about, another memory surfaced in her mind.

_Left, right, left, right, left, right. Swing. Going through the motions, which was all she could do. The training was too tiring. It hurt. Her arms, they were heavy. She was tired. It hurt. Left, right, left, right. Swing. So tired. Sweating so much. She couldn't stop. Father was watching. She had to keep going; had to keep swinging; had to keep doing the left and right motions._

_Like a statue, he was still. Like a statue, he was unmoving. A thing chiseled from stone that was cold and unfeeling. Her father just silently watched. Every time she would take a swing, his brow became furrowed. He didn't like her swings. They were weak, they were pathetic. They were useless, they were no good. She wasn't trying hard enough. She was a disgrace._

_Left, right, falter, slow, left, right, falter, slow. Stop. She couldn't go on anymore. Panting from exhaustion, sweating profusely. She couldn't continue swinging. Her father's face filled with anger. Why was she stopping? Why didn't she continue? She should keep going until she drops; she should keep going until she dies. A sweet voice, a woman's voice. Her mother. Let her rest. She's tired. Give her time and she'll get used to it. Don't be so harsh. She's your daughter. She's our precious child. Don't forget that._

Looking at one of her massive hands with one eye regenerated now, she remembered her face. Her mother. She'd forgotten that sweet voice. More memories came flooding back to her and all of them were agonizing. She couldn't keep them from tearing her mind in two, bellowing from the pain.

Wailing, Annie cradled her head and swung it around in a fit. She had forgotten her promise. She needed to keep her promise. Looking to the Wall, she remembered her promise: _she needed to go back_. One last chance, a fleeting moment. She had to do it.

Reaching the end of the flatland, she could hear it. Eren was gaining on her. She'd end his pursuit here. There was no other choice. Running in between the buildings, she waiting until he gained enough momentum to not be able to stop himself and twisted around on one of her massive ankles. Grasping the buildings for support and turning around to face him, she crouched down as she slide to a stop and lowered her gaze. Turning her eyes back to Eren, she waited until he came within swinging distance.

The sound of repeated rhythms and practice came back to her. _Father_. The smell of the outdoors, a smiling face. _Mother_. Black braids behind her back, that homely face. _Mina_. The best friend she'd abandoned. _Achi. _That stupid grin and those bright green eyes that wouldn't give up on her. _Fritz._

Falling off the Wall and landing hard onto the ground below, creating a shallow crater. She lied there for a moment, as Mikasa glared hatefully down upon her and Eren restrained her with a hold. Everything was over, everything was done. She failed. She failed to get away. Another tear.

_Monsters don't deserve love, monsters don't deserve a savior, monsters don't deserve kindness. Killers don't have the right to love, killers don't have the right to a savior, killers don't have the right to kindness_. _A monster and a killer. That's what she can't change. Father, Mother, Mina, Achi, Fritz. She didn't have the right to have people like them and they didn't deserve to have a person like her!_

Eren ripped open the nape of her neck, revealing all that she was. All that she was through one tear.

She recalled that homely face, that friendly smile — the hands that were willing to hold her own no matter what. Even if she were a monster, she couldn't just throw it all away, couldn't see herself abandoning it all. If she did, then she'd truly be a monster. A demon. Eyes fluttering open, she couldn't throw just it all away! She's already taken a step into hell, so what's a few more to her now?! All of these images of her life flashing, constricting her chest with a mix of every emotion imaginable.

_Promise me. I know you'll do great things. I want us to be friends. I'll always be by your side. Don't say good-bye. Promise me that you'll come back_. _You're our daughter that's why!_ _We'll be best friends! So, be by mine too, always! Don't just throw it all away!_

Even in a monster's heart, a demon's, there's purity. It shines brightly, uncut and untarnished at the pit of their soul, ready to be mined. Waiting to be uncovered. She was going to go back. She'd made a promise. She was going to be a better person. She'd learned from two best friends to never give up. She needed to do what she had to in order to survive. Yes, she knew what she wanted now.

_Annie!_

She wanted to see him again.


	13. Crystal

**X|||. ****Crystal**

Fritz's eyes widened as Eren ripped the nape of her Titan's neck open to reveal her inside. If only he'd known this could have been an outcome sooner, he'd have— _a blinding flash of light._

All around Annie's fragile form, steam billowed and explosions manifested out of thin air, forcing everyone to shield themselves and move back. A thousand possibilities went through his mind at once, and his head hurt. _She couldn't... be..._

"Annie!" he screamed frantically, wanting to rush to her side, but Eliza held a hand up.

"She's not dead," Eliza said. "Look closely, you'll see something and it's not what you're thinking..."

Inside the steam, at its center, was indeed Annie. Rather, it was Annie encased in some transparent block. A crude block that was rough around the edges and appeared ice cold to the touch. It was crystal— a crystal barrier.

Down below, nobody moved for a second, just as confused as the three of them, and Eliza whistled.

"Never seen that before...!" The grin on her face was so wide it seemed as if her nose and chin were invisible. "This is..."

"Her heart..." Achi finished.

Eren and the rest were now moving it. Some of them were trying to hack at it with their blades but there seemed to be no effect, the crystal harder than the toughest metal.

Above, where Mikasa still hung from the Wall, the cracks where Annie's Titan hand had clawed in her escape attempt further expanded and crumbled. They looked up as Mikasa screamed down to Eren and the rest below. One of them was there, like the Colossal Titan— _inside of Wall Sina._

"What... does this mean...?!" Fritz said aloud, but Achi was silent and Eliza too busy snickering to respond. "Eliza—!"

A pain shot through his skull and he clawed the sides of his head, falling to his knees in agony. The shingles of the roof creaked beneath him as he panted and sweat profusely.

Something in his mind, pushing passed his thoughts and feelings, his emotions, right down to the core of his memories. It stabbed at them, probed them. Inspected them. The pain lessened, then gradually he realized something... _else _was inside those memories; intermingled with his own. Somebody else. Someone else's memories.

Their life and his together in the same conscious thought.

He opened his eyes again to a light brown ceiling and the rustle of bedsheets. Two blurry forms, one tall, the other short. A pleasant smell, something baking.

"He's waking up," Eliza said as she leaned closer. "Heeey, can you hear me?"

"Wha...?" He rubbed the side of his head and looked around.

An old room, a quick glance out the window revealed that they were in the Trost District. He cradled his head in his hands, but couldn't remember what had happened after Annie had turned into crystal.

"You were screaming and flailing around until you finally went quiet and fell down. Me and the midget carried you over here. It—"

"It used to be the home after my home." Achi chimed in quietly. "It's... precious to me. After your little episode, they took Annie away — probably deep in Military Police territory where she could be monitored and examined further..."

"And underground, just in case she were to transform again..." Eliza added, then chuckled. "As if that'd ever happen again."

"What the hell do you mean by that?!" Fritz roared, sitting up fully. "What happened to her?!"

Eliza grinned. "Nothing did, but did you see the state she was in? No way is she getting out of that anytime soon and there's no possible way for them to break it... they already tried everything they could, when you were out.

"It's been half a day since then..."

Fritz slowly processed this information. If that's the case, then Annie was still alive! _If she's still alive, then—_! "I have to go see her! Even if it's only this one time! Even if it's hopeless! I—!"

Achi spun around. "_We _have to go see her. It's not always all about you, you stupid bastard!" she exclaimed and he smiled.

"One problem, you don't have a way in..." Eliza pointed out. "The Military Police will have her locked down tight... so we'll just have to sneak in..."

**—-—-—**

They'd managed to get into the area where Annie was being kept, the entrance being directly below them. Fritz peered up at the fifty meters of Wall Sina. The pain from earlier came back and he clutched the side of his head again, only this time it wasn't as severe and he could stay on his feet, but was locked in place.

There were... fragments... of memory — not his own — coming to him. Memories of practicing. Of lefts and rights. Of a burning village. Of Achi. Of Mina._ Of Annie..._

"Fritz, what's wrong?" Achi whispered behind him. Eliza was leading the way, since she'd volunteered. "Keep moving or they'll notice us..."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just catching my breath..."

"Well now's not the time!" She poked and pushed him forward. "Go!"

"I'm going..." As he felt his way through the entrance and followed behind Eliza's dark and twisting form, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something had been odd about those memories. He'd dismissed them as his own, yet... _he didn't know of any burning villages that he could recall._

**—-—-—**

"So, this is her," Captain Ines said as she peered closely at the girl encased in crystal. "A former trainee from the 104th, correct?"

"That's right, ma'am. Annie Leonhart." Zena answered as she held a clipboard. "No family to speak of. Any that's known, anyway," the young woman looked up and squinted. "She's a survivor from five years ago."

"Shinganshina?"

"One of Wall Maria's outlying villages. Overrun by Titans..."

There it was again, _that village._ Why did it keep coming up? All the sources they've found so far seemed to point to this one area outside the Walls, but she have a feeling that's not where they originated from. Legs propped up on her desk now, she examined her short blades, made of coiled steel like the standard issue blades of the military. They were engraved with her father's favorite saying: "Behold courage" etched onto the first and "Denounce cowardice" on the second in fancy lettering. With a twirl, she sheathed them and looked up at Zena, who patiently waited by the door.

The girl had survived enough expeditions to be called a veteran, or just lucky in some soldiers' opinions, but she knew there was a hidden spark under her calm demeanor; the reason she'd chosen Zena to be a part of her squad in the first place. The way she walked. It held fire, much like herself.

"Zena, round up everyone else and gather them here, I'm going to go over what we've learned so far and layout our next move."

"Yes, ma'am!" Zena saluted, then left and shut the door.

Ines sighed and touched her belt, then glanced at the book lying face down on her desk. The tops of petals and the bottoms of stems poked out from its closed pages, its leather covering coated with dried blood and mucky water.

She wondered if luck was what really got them all through hell, or if it was really the sparks hidden in their hearts that drove them through instead.

**—-—-—**

"There she is," Eliza said, pointing to an eery bluish glow down the corridor and around a corner. "A little further..."

She motioned Fritz and Achi to follow closer as she hugged the stone wall and ducked under torches and slipped into any shadow she could find. Fritz and Achi did the same, though Achi didn't need to duck — _just one of the many advantages to being short._

"There are probably going to be guards stationed there." Achi whispered as they came to the end of the corridor. "We won't be able to get past them easily, or even at all maybe."

"The Military Police are a bunch of lazy imps, they won't be paying attention." Eliza replied as she peered around the corner.

"How do you know?" Fritz asked.

"Memory. Look, see? There's nobody there. Easy." Eliza smirked and glanced back with a wink.

"I'll go first..." Fritz pushed past her and rounded the corner.

Eliza had been right — it was empty. Dead, even. It seemed strange to him, but he wasn't about to question it now of all times. This could be his only chance to see her again, in the flesh. He wasn't about to waste it. The eery bluish glow wasn't as intense the closer he got to the entrance of the room, but he still couldn't shake off the strange feeling. Suddenly, the pain started in his head again and he put a hand on the wall to steady himself.

_There's someone in there. Be careful._

"Who...?" Nobody was there. Eliza and Achi were still waiting around the corner and it hadn't sounded like either of their voices, it had sounded more like—

_No time to explain, just keep going straight and I'll tell you where she is._

"Right..." he replied slowly and followed the voice's instructions. The artificial lighting was scarce inside, the natural light that came from the crystal illuminating more than enough of its surroundings to see clearly. Fritz was just about to step into the room when the voice yelled to stop.

_Crouch when you enter, I'll tell you when..._

Fritz did as he was told, odd as it seemed, and took the last few steps...

_Now._

He crouched just as a blade sliced where his upper body had been moments before, a strong hand grabbing him, pulling him inside, and throwing him to the ground. He slide in front of the crystal. _What..._?

_It's Ackerman. She knew you three were coming and wanted to deal with you herself_.

_Why didn't the guards stop her_? Fritz asked in his head upon realizing the voice had responded to his thoughts. _More importantly, what does she want from us?!_

_It's the Military Police and the Scouting Legion. They found out that I had help and the evidence pointed to you three, as well as Reiner and Bertolt. They're under orders not to raise any suspicions, but Mikasa couldn't let it go. She wants to kill you three before anything else happens, before they go after Reiner and Bertolt._

_Reiner and Bertolt? What do they—_

_Move!_

Fritz rolled out of the way of a downward cleave and crawled on his hands and knees to the opposite wall. He stood up and held out his hands. "Hey hey! Wait a sec! It's me, Mikasa! It's Fritz!" he shouted as he saw the dark outline of the girl partially obscured by shadow.

She poised her blade towards him. "You helped her. You helped that _monster_ to try and capture Eren! Why?! Annie's one of them! One of the enemy, they're trying to crush humanity. They're trying to kill _Eren_. Why would you help her?!"

He continued to hold up his hands, while also reaching for his own weapon. "Annie's one of our friends, too, isn't she? If I helped her, then I thought maybe she'd join our side and—"

"She was never on our side," Mikasa spat and lowered her blade. "You were there during the expedition. You saw what she did. She isn't our friend! She's—"

"A monster?" Fritz interrupted, in the same tone that Annie had back then when she'd been captured. "A monster, she's just a monster to you. What about Eren, then? Isn't he a monster too?"

"Shut your mouth. You have no right to call him that traitor, and _this time _I won't let Eren get in the way!" She lunged forward as the stone floor sunk under her superhuman-like strength.

He countered just in time and deflected her blade to the side. She scowled and twisted her wrist for another strike, lower this time, but Fritz parried again. Sparks flew.

Mikasa pressed harder. He couldn't take her blows and within seconds she'd torn his weapon from his grasp. Then, he suddenly swiped her feet from under her the second he saw an opening and, as he panted heavily, looked down at his posture, the way his fists were positioned. Annie's signature stance.

With no time to think on it, he barely dodged another cleave. The blade nicked his shoulder and drew blood as he rolled away from her again and backed into the crystal. Mikasa thrust her blade straight for his throat, but was knocked aside and they both turned to the newcomer.

"Need some help there?" Eliza asked, but didn't react quickly enough to the black haired girl's recovery and paid the price as four of her fingers flew away in bloody streams as Mikasa proceeded with the forearm next and her blood spurted all over the three of them. "Damn, that hurt," Eliza complained as she grimaced at her lost appendages.

She leapt back and went down to one knee, compressing it to halt the bleeding as dark crimson pooled at her feet.

"Goddammit, that really fucking _hurt!_" she howled as Mikasa raised her blade to finish her off.

"Fall, traitor," the black haired girl growled coldly, her blade high. She was bringing it down full force to strike Eliza on the head when another, third party, intervened.

"That's enough!" a woman wearing a Scouting Legion Captain's uniform commanded as she held Mikasa's blade in midair with a gloved hand. "Stop fighting, the three of you." Mikasa tried to push the blade further down, but it only caused the Captain to resist harder. "I said s_top_, Ackerman. You're not the executioner. You have no right to murder them."

Mikasa glared at her, but stopped resisting and looked away hatefully. "Yes, ma'am..." she obeyed.

Ines kept her expression blank and inspected the gash in her glove, then looked down at Eliza. "Zena, Alger, get this girl medical attention right now. Riecka and Larrens," she glanced over at the crystal formation and lingered for a second or two on Fritz, "take this boy and the others away. To Legion Headquarters."

"What about you, Captain?" Larrens asked. "Should we wait for you?"

"No, head straight there. Don't alert anyone to your movements. I'll be staying here for a bit to figure some things out. Get moving!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Her squad saluted, doing as ordered.

She barely even took notice of Fritz's acknowledging gaze as he passed while being led by Riecka. The only one she bothered to look at, even if only for a split second, was Achi. She looked back at Annie Leonhart, encased in her crystal fortress.

**—-—-—**

Ines tapped the hilt of one of her short blades and leaned forward in her chair. Her gaze again lingered on Achi more than it did Fritz. His eyes kept moving from her to Achi. It was obvious he wanted to say something and she knew the conversation couldn't get started without it and gave the go ahead for him to speak his mind. He nodded.

"Ines!" He smiled brightly. "There's so much—!"

She stayed him with another wave. "Enough. It's nice to see you too, Friedrich." she said, and turned to Achi, "Do the two of you know why you are here?" she asked.

"Trespassing," Achi retorted.

"And withholding information," the Captain added. "Tell me what happened five years ago," she then said abruptly. "We already know you're from the same village as Leonhart, so there's no use keeping it from me or," her eyes darted to Fritz, "do you not want anyone to find out more than they should be privileged to know?" No response. "We have all the rest of this night and the morning after, so take your time getting it out."

Fritz scooted his chair away from Achi, who looked ready to explode given the look in her eyes. Hostile and caged, like a captive wolf without means of escape. Deadly and dangerous. He frowned. He wanted to say more to his sister, but all she was interested was Achi.

_The two of you are from the same village?_ _The one overrun by Titans?_

Silence. Then: _It was burned to the ground, destroyed by Titans. Nothing but the shell remains, just ruins. To us, it's still home, but Achi doesn't want to go back, unlike I do. I've always wanted to... because of a promise to my father. _

_Kind of like my father. He was always there for us. Me, Ines, Lex, Sofie. He'd tell us stories and—_

_How did he die?_

_A year after Maria fell. The grief — it just got to him and ate away at him inside until he drank himself to death from depression. A street corner, that's where we found him one day. Just lying there, face down in the dirt. In the filth. He didn't deserve to die covered in mud and dirt, he deserved to die on his feet!_

_Sometimes, you can't always get what you want in life. Even if that is just a decent death. You never know how that's going to play out, in the end. I'm... sorry. About your father._

_It wasn't your fault. It was never your fault. I can't bring him back, no matter how much I beg, so moping about it won't do me any good. What about your father? Is he...?_

_I don't know. That's what I want to find out. That's why I have to go back. That's why I made that promise..._

"So, you won't tell me, huh?" Ines sighed. "Well, nothing I can do about it now. Moving on—" she turned to her younger brother now, "Why were the two of you there. Were you trying to free Leonhart from her prison?"

"No." Achi answered for him.

Ines tilted her head and glanced over at Achi, who glared back and didn't offer any further comment. "And the third one, Eliza... was it? Right now, she's resting. Ackerman was sent back and has been given a strict warning. I've cleared it with the higher ups and there won't be a court case this time. The two of you are dismissed for the time being. Go check up on your friend, I'm sure she'd be thrilled to see you both."

The two of them got up swiftly and saluted, then were led out the door by Larrens. Ines had caught Fritz's eyes as he'd left and scowled. She motioned for Riecka to close the door and thought to herself how much like their father he'd turned into.

Achi and Fritz were shuffled inside the infirmary and their eyes wandered to the stump that was now her right forearm. Eliza smirked and waved it at them.

"Jealous? It was bleeding pretty bad back there, I was worried all my blood would spill out onto the floor! Luckily, they were able to patch me up. I can still feel it, though. I think that's what they call a ghost limp?"

"Does it hurt?" Fritz asked dumbly, not sure what to really say in the current situation.

Achi blinked. "Of course it hurts, you dumbass."

Eliza laughed eerily. "It was her eyes," she said through her teeth. "They reminded me of myself..." Her voice trailed off and she looked beyond the two of them, as if at a distant memory. As quick as it happened, the moment was gone. "Damn, she was a real psycho bitch, wasn't she? 'Fall, traitor' and all that shit. What is she, a stairwell?" Both of them just stared and she raised an eyebrow. "What? You've never fallen down the stairs before?"

_No, I don't think that's what..._

"That joke was stupid." Achi commented. Outside, the sound of someone on horseback came to everyone's ears.

"Titans have appeared from the southwest of Wall Maria! They're inside Wall Rose territory!" a courier shouted at the top of his lungs before even reaching the entrance to the Scouting Legion Headquarters.

Captain Ines, her squad, Squad Leader Hange, Captain Levi, and others were all going over strategies with Commander Erwin when the news hit them, and Commander Erwin wasted no time in issuing a response.

Ines hefted a satchel over the side of her horse as Fritz came up to her. She only made note of his presence after she'd already fully equipped herself and her horse, then checked if her squad had done the same. Looking down at him from atop her horse, her facial expression darkened. "What is it, _Brandt?_"

"Ma'am!" He saluted. "I'd like to accompany you and your squad as an attachment!"

"Just you, or are there others?"

Fritz pointed at three horses in the stables. "Achi and Eletta are coming too, they've switched out of the Garrison to join us!"

"More lambs for the slaughter, huh?" Ines said to herself as she looked at the three horses, then back down to her younger brother. "As a member of the Scouting Legion, you have the right to join us. The three of you can ride with us, but we're losing daylight as it is, and we can't wait for three stragglers, so get your gear and tell the other two to do the same. On the double."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Exciting, isn't it?" Hange said next to her, the journal she'd discovered two years prior visible from her uniform's breast pocket. "Maybe this is the chance we'll finally get to test what's written in Ilse's journal here! A Titan capable of comprehensible speak... Lady Ymir... Ymir's people... Great... what it all means..."

"Answers..." she responded, watching the wagons that were to transport the majority of reinforcements to the detachment's last known location, Castle Utgard, southwest of the Yalkell District. "Or just more questions that need them...?"


	14. Ymir

**X|V. Ymir**

Ymir felt her memories throbbing in and out of her conscious thoughts since they'd decided to shelter inside the abandoned castle Utgard.

There was a familiarity to it she couldn't place, as she looked around one of its storerooms, bright enough to see without the need of a secondary light source.

She'd lit a candle anyway.

Out a window across from her, Titans roamed around outside aimlessly as she went over to a stack of wooden crates in the corner. The crates were caked in dust, not having been opened in what seemed like decades, which meant they were valuable — she'd remember something about the castle and her past. More about Skrymir.

Cracking open the lid of the nearest one, she set the candle down and stuck her hand in, rummaging through it. It scraped over something metallic, a round cylinder-like object — a can of some sort. Footsteps. Someone was coming and she spun around, candle back in hand.

"Ymir, what are you doing up here?" It was Reiner.

"Oh, it's just you Reiner. What do you want? Are you sneaking up with dirty intentions?"

"What a shocker, I didn't think I looked like a guy who'd be interested in girls. By the way, you don't look like you'd be the type of girl to be interested in the opposite sex either."

"Really now?" For all she knew, he _was_ a homosexual and didn't seem the type to bother others without reason. She couldn't let her guard down. "I've been searching for something to fill me up, since this may be our last dinner and all..."

"Back then, all that stuff you said about Connie's village, you said it so he'd drop the subject, right? I want you to keep that up so he doesn't unnecessarily worry about his family and get distracted. It could mean the difference between life and—"

"Do I look like I care? Oh look here, I found something!" It was the can from earlier. She'd had her hand on it the whole time as she waited for him to leave. Now, there was no use hiding what she'd found, since it was _obvious_ the nosy bastard wasn't going to go quietly. "This'll do, though I can't say I'm all that fond of herring." The letters that spelled out its contents, she knew them in a heartbeat. A language no longer used, decades forgotten.

"There more in there?" Reiner held out his hand. "Can I see that one?"

She stared for a second at the lettering, debating whether to let him see it. Instinct told her not to, but right now, as she was, her common courtesy was stronger. "Here, don't drool on it."

"Canned food, huh?" Reiner said. He was suddenly quiet. She could feel him tense up out the corner of her eye. "These... _characters_. I can't read them _at all_. Do they really say 'herring'?" He looked down at her with a mask of suspicion. "But you, Ymir, sure can read these no problem, huh..." His eyes narrowed when he say the look in her eyes.

They didn't look... _human_... as if some monster were behind them, glaring knowingly at him.

"Everyone! Get to the roof this instant!"

Atop the roof, the moon had appeared through the clouds, illuminating the area to reveal Titans. Dozens of them. All converging on Castle Utgard. The foundation shook and everyone braced themselves, the Titans had broken down the front entrance!

"How can they still move?!" Connie exclaimed. "The sun isn't even up yet! Hey! Look over there!" He pointed at a giant ape looking thing in the distance. "Huge, what is that thing? A Titan, but it looks more like a beast, right?" Nobody answered, all of them focused on its slow movements, like a sloth. "It's heading for the Wall!"

"Try and prevent them from getting further inside! Barricades, use them! If it's too much, run back to this rooftop. I can't guarantee we'll be able to save all of you, since we may not be able to even save ourselves, but remember this one thing: keep fighting even if all the bones in your body are broken! Don't give them any chances!" the Legion member in charge commanded, as the other seasoned members of the Scouting Legion went down to meet the enemy. "Got it?!"

Ymir purposely stood in front of Krista as they went single file down the steps with her eyes trained on Reiner who was busy grabbing a torch, wondering how much he knew as he told them he'd go on ahead and check the first door, telling them to find things to make a barricade with. She watched as he went out of sight. When he called for support, Connie was already grabbing a cannon and wheeling it down. He shouted for her and Krista to help him, since Bertolt had went ahead. Together, the three of them rolled it down the stairwell until they came to the first door, where the two boys were fending off a Titan that had managed to smash its hands through the wood. They pushed it down the remainder of stairwell, the heavy cannon crushing both door and Titan flat and pinning the remains to the floor.

"Looks like... it worked..." Reiner wheezed.

A loud rumble was heard above, flakes of stone falling from the ceiling. They rushed up to see what had happened: two of the four seasoned members were dead.

"Both of them died instantly. A boulder, it came flying from the direction of the Wall. It crushed them."

"It must be that beast like Titan we saw earlier!" Connie guessed. "Whoa!" He pointed over the ledge near the woods, where tons of Titans were pouring out. "There's more than twice as many as the first time!"

"Showing up at this time, almost like they were following a plan. It's almost like they're toying with us and that they have been, right from the beginning..."

"Rookies! Stay here! We'll get as many of them as we can!"

"We'll buy you guys some time!" the Legion member in charge said as the other jumped down. "Even it's only so you don't die for a few minutes more! It's the best we can give you now..."

The graduates watched the two of them as they met the Titans again, for what most likely was, the last time...

**—-—-—**

"Titans got them..." Connie said after they'd had been watching for ten minutes, sinking down on his knees. Krista grabbed a stone and threw it below, trying to hit one of the Titans.

Ymir pulled her back. "Knock it off, Krista. There tower is barely holding up as is. Anymore, and it'll just come crumbling down. Then we'd all be as good as dead."

"B-but! In our place, they've—!"

"Shit! Shit! Shit! _Shit!_" Connie repeated as he punched the ledge. "Isn't there something we can do?! At this point, the tower'll just collapse and we'll get eaten!" Rubbing his now bruised hand, he stared at the floor of the roof. "At least I wanted my death to have some meaning, ya know? Some _purpose_..."

"Me too, I don't want to die without fighting. I wish I had some kind of weapon... that we all have something to fight with. Then, we could all die together."

_Purpose_. _A meaning... _She grit her teeth. "Krista, how can you still be sprouting that _bullshit?_ Don't you dare look at our superiors' deaths that way! They didn't fucking die so you could use their deaths as a damn convenient excuse to commit suicide!"

Krista put her back to the ledge. "Y-y-you're mistaken, I never intended to—!"

"You're not like Connie, or those officers! I'd know! It's not like you really want _not_ to die, you always think in what ways you _could_ die so you can get praised for it. Am I wrong?"

"It's not like that at all!"

"Krista! You may have forgotten, but try and remember, that time in the snowy mountains, with Dazz! I want you to reclaim your name and live back under it," Ymir said as she leaned into her face. "Connie, give me your knife."

Here and now... she wanted to show this foolish girl...

"It's all yours."

She took it and patted him on his shaved head. "Thanks."

"What do you need it for?"

"_Fighting_. It's dawn..." she said as the sun peeked out from the clouds and replaced the moon.

"Hey," Reiner said as he held a hand in caution. "Ymir, what are you trying to do?"

Stepping closer to the ledge, she looked down upon the amassing Titans. "I'm not so sure myself," she replied and smiled. Then, "Krista, I have no right to tell you how to live, so consider this my wish: live with your head held high, there's always a spot for a second chance." She moved back and sprinted towards the ledge as Krista screamed in protest, but she'd already leapt from the tower then.

_She used to be like that. _

Falling faster to the waiting Titan horde, she cut the palm of her hand.

_Thinking she should have never been born._

She concentrated all of her thoughts into destroying the Titans that were threatening the tower. Threatening her. Threatening Krista.

_Hated just because she existed. But..._

She disappeared in a flash of light, so bright that it was blinding; as hot as the sun itself.

_There was one thing she wished for with all her heart._

Emerging from the light was a medium sized Titan with unkempt long black hair, leathery skin, pointed ears, a long face, claws instead of hands and strong, short legs.

_It was, that, if she was ever given a second chance._

She realized it now, when she'd first heard of Krista's dilemma with her family. Ramming into the first Titan, she ripped out its throat. Kidnapping a girl like that, what had she been thinking? Kidnapping a girl she used to be like.

_Family... Skrymir... her past... Eliza... things dark and confined in her heart. Still unable to rediscover it all, she had to show this girl what living a lie amounted to. What denouncing who and what you stood for meant for your future as an individual._

Being a martyr, being nothing more than a person that died from the sake of others, is the same as a person who should have never been born in the first place. She wanted to show this girl that living for yourself is all that matters.

_She wanted to live only for herself._

And, when the fighting had stopped and she lay amidst the carnage, she heard it. The only thing she wanted the foolish girl to take back all this time, like she herself had done, and...

_"My name... is Historia."_

She smiled.


	15. Skrymir

**XV. Skrymir**

Historia looked down at the battered girl being hauled up via stretcher, missing a forearm and leg below the kneecap. Limbs steaming, repairing themselves after her battle to save them from the Titans. They were on top of Wall Rose now, the ruins of Castle Utgard not far off in the distance.

"Please believe me... it's the truth! To save us, she had to reveal her secret and fight for us! Even if it meant disregarding her own life! I know that her actions up to that point are inexcusable: holding vital information from mankind. I-I suppose she was only concerned about herself, but she _has_ changed since then— a-and this is proof! As someone who's known her for a long time, I assure you that she's a lot simpler that she seems to be!"

Squad Leader Hange pondered her words for a moment. "I... see… Well, don't get me wrong, but regardless of what she's done, the information she can provide is a treasure trove to humanity. Of course, I want to be on good terms with her, but _survival_ comes first. She herself might be simple in nature, but right now things are complicated..."

"Ma'am...?"

"You said your _real_ name was Historia, correct?"

"Yes, Historia Reiss."

"As in the Reiss Noble Household?"

"Yes..."

The Squad Leader pat her shoulder and smiled. "Well, nice to meet you, Reiss!"

"Right..." Historia nodded back and followed her to Ymir's stretcher.

"Ines, how is she?" Hange asked the Captain, who seemed lost in thought.

"Fine. The bleeding's stopped."

"We need to have her transported to the Trost District for proper, and hopefully faster, treatment. Until then, Ines, come with me." She led Ines away from Ymir and left Historia to mope by herself, walking to the Wall's edge. "Originally, we came here to assist with any breaches in the Wall, but now we've discovered something else entirely. The one from Ilse's journal..." Hand on chin, she turned to her, "Did you question the three who broke into Leonhart's confinement chamber?"

"Yes, but one was critically injured and couldn't be viable for questioning, the other two didn't reveal anything substantial."

"Keep tabs on them, they may be willing to reveal more in the future."

"Already on it."

"Good. You're as tact as you've ever been. We'll deal with Ymir later. First, we put the plan to restore the Wall in motion." She scanned the area. "I expected to see hordes of Titans, yet..." Her voice trailed off and Ines followed her gaze. Captain Hannes from the Garrison and his company were coming their way. He barely had both hands on the ledge when he started to speak.

"There's no breach _anywhere!_ We've been searching all night, and I can guarantee you that at least between Trost and Chlorba that there's no breach in the Wall. We even double checked! Also, all this time, we haven't come across a _single_ Titan!"

Without warning, a flash of light and steam enveloped the Wall. What came out of the chaos were two familiar sights: the Armored-Type and Colossal-Type Titans, the two mainly responsible for Wall Maria's breach five years prior. Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover, who'd been figured out as Titan-Shifters since Annie Leonhart's capture, and now, were finally discovered.

In the Armored-Type's hands was Eren. Ymir had also been snatched up by the Colossal-Type Titan, and now, Reiner was sliding down the Wall in an attempt to escape. Eren, obviously having made up his mind about the two of them, had transformed. He'd slammed his fist into the Reiner's jaw. Reiner quickly regained his composure and tackled him mid-air and both of them fell to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and cracked earth. Still on the Wall, Bertolt was now fast approaching the clump of gathered soldiers.

Achi looked up to see Bertolt's Titan form's gigantic hand come down on her. Instinctively, she dove under his fingers and slashed at the muscle of his wrist, the action having no effect. In the Titan's other hand was Ymir, whose limps were still slowly regenerating, and she aimed her wires at the hand. Just as she was about to reach the thumb, its other hand had come up and wrapped around her body and she slashed to no avail.

"He took another one!" Connie exclaimed as the Bertolt opened his mouth and swallowed them. "He ate them!"

Hange glared up from their dangling position on the Wall and grimaced. "Everyone! Prepare for battle!" she shouted and led the charge up the Wall towards him. "We're going to bring the Colossal-Type Titan down!" They shot up above the Wall as one entity. "Charge all at once! He's the enemy of mankind!"

Ines watched from a distance with her squad. Soldiers ran along his arms, the ribcage, the head; anywhere they could to get to the nape of his neck. They all converged on the Colossal Titan's weakpoint at once, only to be knocked back by the high concentration of steam that shot out from his back. Hange came to her, first degree burns visible on her face. She turned to address the men.

"Squad 3 and 4, you're on standby! Go behind the target and wait! Rashard, you're in command! Squad 2, you guys are on standby here! Laura, I'm leaving them to you!" She turned to her. "It'll be interesting to see how long he can keep burning like that, but he'll run of out fuel eventually. He'll have to come out afterwards, and we'll wait for _that _moment to make our move! We can't take them alive anymore. It's too much of a risk. We kill them. Don't hesitate. Squad 1 will take care of the Armored-Type Titan! Follow me!" Hange again led the charge, only this time down the Wall instead of up it. Ines thumbed the handles of her short blades, standing perfectly still.

"Captain," Zena started, "shouldn't we assist Squad Leader Hange?"

"We can't just sit here and do nothing!" Alger added. "What good is—!"

"There's no point in taking a part in this, we're here to observe for now, nothing more."

"But ma'am, look around! We can't just let this go on! We have to do _something!_"

"And _what_ do you propose we do? Look closely around you, the Colossal Titan is unapproachable with all that intensive steam billowing out, and down below the Armored Titan is currently engaged with that boy. The boy's control over his Titan form is still unstable, wild and uncoordinated; he's more likely to kill one of _us_ than subdue the Armored Titan. Who, not to mention, likely knows more about Shifting than that boy ever could! Look at the Colossal Titan again, our two prime leads are inside its mouth. We need to wait for it the steam to stop before engaging, like Hange pointed out. Once that happens, I assure you, we _will_ cut open its jaws and get what we came here for. Is that _clear?_"

Alger stared hard into her eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

Fritz came alongside Mikasa, who glared at him hatefully, but didn't do anything more. They both came to realize that stopping Reiner and Bertolt was more important than any past issues and he went lower, coordinating his attack with hers. As soon as she swung around to strike Reiner on his weakpoint he want low for the tendons on his legs, but the hardened skin made it impossible for his blades to cut through. He glanced up just in time to see Mikasa jump off his shoulder, but not out of the way from _what_. He felt the impact even as he got clear. Eren had tried to punch him, sprawled flat as Reiner stood over him.

_It hadn't worked_. He tossed his spent blades and put in a new pair. _Is there any weakness to his ability, Annie_? No response. _Annie, Bertolt has Achi and Ymir, we can't let them escape! Is there any way to stop Reiner?! Annie!_

_Momentum._

"What?" _Momentum_?

Eren got up, arm destroyed from punching Reiner's armored face. He roared and charged again, lashing out with the other to be met with the same result. Only this time, Reiner had smashed _him_ in the face. Eren's eyeball and an impressive chunk of his jaw flew freely in the air, and as he fell to the ground a second time, Annie spoke up again.

_He's using Eren's momentum against him_.

Right then, Eren used the same move she'd once used against Reiner, locking him in a chokehold with his legs. Tearing an arm off at the elbow and tossing it aside, he was then knocked off by Reiner, who even in his Titan form looked pissed off.

_He used momentum. That's the key..._

_Then, that means Eren has a chance at beating him_?

_No, he's still no match for Reiner._

As she said this, Reiner ran Eren into the Wall and continuously pounded on him. Eren grabbed a hold of him and took him to the ground again.

_What are you talking about? He's definitely going to get him!_

_No, keep looking. Above._

Above was Bertolt and Fritz came to realize what Annie had meant when she said momentum, as Reiner roared and Bertolt answered, falling down to ground zero...

**—-—-—**

Eliza tore off the rotten chunk of wood that was ruining the otherwise pristine wood of the stables. Without an arm, doing simple tasks was a little more difficult, though she knew that wouldn't be the case for long. She tossed the piece of wood into a nearby haystack.

Captain Levi had gathered some of the left over graduates and soldiers to watch over the Wall fanatics. They were waiting in a wagon for the time being, since Commander Erwin had told them to stay put. Apparently, Eren had got himself captured... _again_. She sighed as she moved her stump. "So boring," she said to herself as a shadow cast itself in the doorway.

"Need any help?" Jean asked, holding the reins of the horse who'd gotten loose — all thanks to that rotten piece of wood from earlier.

"No, I'll take care of that, go back to the Captain," she replied as she pointed her stump at the reins in his hand.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I can handle it."

"If you need anything, just let me know, alright?" he said, looking around the stable once before leaving again.

Eliza waited until his shadow had gone then stared into the horse's black eyes. "Do you wanna take a trip with me?" The horse blinked, but that didn't mean no, so she saddled up and strode through the back entrance and glanced round hastily. Nobody in sight. _Good_. She snapped the reins and kicked the horse's sides and went full gallop out of the Trost District, following the trail Commander Erwin and a fresh group of reinforcements had left in their wake.

**—-—-—**

In the distance, Commander Erwin and his reinforcements had arrived with Ines and her squad leading the way, arriving with the extra horses and the portable pulley to get their horses over the Wall quickly. Fritz saw Eletta smile at him, giving him a thumbs up and running to her horse, which they'd already saddled a little under an hour before. It'd been a little over five hours since Eren, Ymir, and Achi had been whisked away, but now was the time they'd get them back.

"I won't! So don't make me repeat myself!" a girl shouted in the gathering of people behind him, and he turned to see Krista arguing with Armin. "I can't simply sit back while my friends are being taken away. You and Mikasa should understand that better than anyone!"

"Krista's right, Armin." Connie said, his back turned as he stared out into the territory of Wall Maria, arms crossed. "We all got more than enough reason to pursue them. I, personally, can't believe all that _shit_ about them; not one bit. I _refuse_ to believe that Reiner and Bertolt are our enemies until I hear from them directly. Same goes for Ymir."

"Commander Erwin!" a soldier called as the Commander strode to Fritz and the others. "A-and the Military Police too?!"

The Commander opened his mouth to say something when he suddenly averted his eyes to the ground. Squad Leader Hange had managed to regain consciousness and was gripping his leg, asking for a map of the surrounding area. A soldier laid it out flat in front of her and she put a finger to an area in the middle; a forest of giant trees.

"There's a forest here, although it's pretty small in comparison to the one we used to trap the Female-Type Titan in. Nonetheless, that's where you should head to, I have a reason to doubt that the Armored-Type Titan will have bothered to cover his tracks, so there's a very good chance that—"

"What makes you think so?"

"It's a gamble, but even if those two have the power of their Titan forms, they're still in danger from other Titans outside the Wall. After all that fighting they had to do, they must be pretty exhausted — not as much as Eren — but still, it seems that the Female-Type Titan, Annie, had slept for a considerable amount of time after her rampage. The two of them, including Annie and Ymir, they all must have some way to recuperate faster and in a short amount of time and by taking that into account, their most immediate concern is finding a high enough place where the other Titans would be unable to reach them. So that means that they can stay there at least until nightfall when Titans become unable to move. You have until nightfall! If you can make it to that forest before nightfall, you just might be able to catch up with them and rescue those three!"

Commander Erwin raised a hand towards the direction Hange had summarized for them, his horse already on one of the pulley systems they had brought along. "Men, forward!"

**—-—-—**

"Ymir, Achi," Reiner said after he'd been watching the Titans grope at the trees for a time, "do you think that this world has a future? Think about the path you should take from here, it's still possible for you to come to our side, isn't it? Ymir, your goal is to protect Krista, right? And Achi, yours is to protect Annie, isn't it? This is the one instance in which we should rely on each other! It might seem like I'm joking, but... don't you think we can agree on the notion that we all want something? With Krista... and... Annie...? And, do you think that Eren's powers are more reliable than ours? He's the one who captured Annie and tried to kill her! He'd do the same to Krista given enough reason to do so!"

"Huh?! That's bullshit!" Eren exclaimed. Ymir glared at him, which rendered him speechless.

"It seems to me, Ymir, that you were planning on using Eren to get out of here along with Achi. You're probably trying to do all you can for yourself and her before we take you away, right? To save your own asses? Frankly, that's true. The two of us can't guarantee your safety, but when it comes to Krista's and Annie's futures, there's something we can do... it's up to you guys..."

"What about not trusting them, huh? Ymir!" Eren shouted frantically. "Hey, Ymir! Achi!"

Achi bowed her head and didn't respond, while Ymir stared him straight in the eye.

"_Who knows...?_"

Eren lifted one of his still regenerating hands. "Come on, Reiner..." Without a second thought, or a second wasted, he took Reiner in a fierce headlock and took him to the ground. Reiner retaliated, kicking him back into the tree and subduing him with a headlock of his own. Eren shouted curses and threats as he struggled to no avail.

Ymir rubbed her wrists. Unlike Eren, her limbs and internal organs had already regenerated. Bertolt was watching Achi. In that instance, she thought it was somewhat funny; didn't they trust Achi like they trusted _her?_ Didn't they already say they did? It must have been something they noticed afterwards, but she couldn't— ah, _that's_ what it was. It all went back to _him_, didn't it? Either him or Eren, one of the two; it was always them. She caught Achi's eye. She asked the same question to Bertolt as before. This time, he looked over.

"_Ymir..._" He was staring at her now, eyes holding a sharp intensity, "after you went back to being human, did you still remember who you ate?"

In the backdrop, Reiner was tightening his grip on Eren's neck to shut him up, which she was grateful for: it allowed her to think clearly. "No, I don't. Was it one of your comrades?" Bertolt's eyes softened as he turned his attention to Reiner and Eren who were still struggling on the branch.

"It can't be helped if you don't. It was the same for us, too." He gestured at Eren, who was busy biting Reiner's arm and drawing trickles of blood. "Eren doesn't seem to remember either, so—"

"Do you _hate_ me?"

"I wonder that myself... I'm sure you didn't _want_ to eat anyone, it was just... an instinct. Just how _long_ were you wandering outside the Walls? How much time had passed?"

A moment of silence, then, "Around sixty _years._ It was like I was in a neverending _nightmare_."

A whistle from a branch higher-up, along with the rustling of leaves. "And here I thought you'd never open up like that." Everyone jerked their heads to see Eliza leaning against a tree. All except for Eren, who was unconscious.

"Eliza!" Achi exclaimed, eyes wide and overjoyed.

Reiner stood up. "What are you doing here? More importantly, how did you find where we were being held?"

"It wasn't hard." She nodded her head towards Eren. "That boy is fairly loud, so I didn't have any trouble."

"How'd you get past the Titans?! They're swarming all over this place!" Bertolt exclaimed.

"And, if I were to tell you, what good would it do since I'm already here?"

"Are you here to take them back?" Reiner added, not so much as a question but a threat.

"No, if I was planning to do that you'd be _dead_ by now." Her tone suddenly lost all of its playful, carefree edge. Her eyes narrowed. If one were to blink, they'd have missed it, and the quickness of her feet after. Now, Eliza leaned down beside Ymir's ear. As she assumed her full height again she looked between the rest of them. "I'm not going to go after you, all I want is to ask a question, and," she pointed at Achi, "I want the midget. Deal?"

"How do we know that we can trust you?" Reiner asked with a glare.

She scratched her head. "Well, either we waste time deconstructing my loyalty, or you figure it out later, because, well, they're nearly here."

"_Fine_. What was your question?"

"_The Coordinate_, do you know where it is?"

"How do you—"

Eliza looked out to the mix of Scouting Legion and Military Police forces with a sigh. "Too bad, but you'd better get your asses in gear, or else—"

"Answer me! How do you—!"

Her eyes shut him up immediately, no questions asked. Eliza casually went up to Achi then. "You two better leave, now. I'd do it if I were you..."

Reiner gave the girl one last look before he strapped Eren to his back.

"Reiner, but she—"

"I know that! But she's right, we have to go! Now! Ymir...!" Ymir was unresponsive, trembling slightly. "Dammit, we can't deal with this right now...Bertolt!"

"Right!" He strapped Ymir to his back and nodded that he was ready.

Eliza watched them disappear and looked down at Achi, who felt as if death were staring her straight in the face.

"W-what?"

Eliza burst into laughter. "That look on your face!"

Achi puffed her cheeks. "Untie me dammit!"

**—-—-—**

Battle wasn't a priority. That's what Commander Erwin had ordered. Their main objective was rescuing Eren, nothing more. Running through the swarm of Titans, it was expected that some of them would die, plucked from their horses like toys. Still, the survivors went on. One of the men led the horses away to draw the Titans from the forest, and as he did so everyone else dismounted to go in. Among the branches and trees, Eren and the others were being held somewhere.

Killing Reiner and Bertolt was the secondary objective, but Fritz didn't want to do it so soon. He couldn't deny what they'd done, after learning more from Annie on the way, but like Connie, he just couldn't outright kill them. They may know something valuable that he'd need, something that Annie would need. _Was it closure_?

Further ahead, there was a flash of light and everyone converged on the source. Upon a tree just up ahead, claw-like hand embedded into bark, was Ymir in her Titan form.

Smaller than he'd imagined it to be, with long dark hair, pointy ears, and a long, draw out face, almost like that of an evil faerie's. His mother had often talked about these faeries from long ago that would grant wishes and cause mischief, wreaking havoc. Whether the stories were true or not, he couldn't hope to guess, but one thing was for certain: Ymir was after something, thus she knew something.

_Be cautious_. Annie's voice sounded in his head, calmer than usual. _She doesn't seem to be with anybody else, but I know those two are nearby, watching_. _Be careful_.

Connie hit Ymir on the head, asking for Eren's whereabouts, but Ymir kept on staring out, as if searching for something.

_It's strange_. Annie commented slowly. _Hold on, isn't Krista behind you_? _Move out of the way. Hang on that tree over there before you come into view of her._

He did as he was told — she'd saved him before, after all. He nodded at Krista who smiled back, leaning against the bark of the tree, and as quickly as it appeared, the smile was gone. As she rounded the tree he was on, Ymir sprang into action, leaping off the tree at a high velocity, jaws widened, and taking Krista into her mouth, clambered off, going from tree to tree. Fritz could only watch in disbelief.

_Wha_—

_You owe me one._

It wasn't like Ymir to just do something without a purpose, so she must have taken her best friend for a _reason_. He looked up at the tree tops and went to the nearest branch, now intent on finding where Achi was. For all he knew, she could still be with Reiner and Bertolt as their captive, but there was also the possibility that she wasn't. He had to make sure...

**—-—-—**

"All squads! Just go ahead and let the Titans follow you!" Commander Erwin ordered as he turned around from the edge of the forest to pursue Reiner, who'd just transformed into his Titan form trying to escape. A soldier of the Military Police turned to shout at him.

"Hey, Erwin! You're planning on using us as decoys again?!" Some of his comrades were being devoured in the clump of Titans behind.

"That's not my intent! The Military Police is fighting admirably! Fulfill your duties as soldiers!" the Commander retorted as he increased the running pace of his horse. Next to him, Captain Ines was giving orders to the rest of the Scouting Legion, calling out formations. "Ines! The Armored-Type is our top priority! We need to stop his escape at all costs! You know what that means, don't you?!"

"Everyone! No matter what happens from now on, keep pressing forward and don't lose sight of the Armored Titan!" she shouted as she pointed at his bulky form. They were far from the forest by now, scarcely any trees in sight. They'd gained ground on Reiner since he'd started slowing down. Ines could see the shapes of what looked to be the girl Ymir in her Titan form, along with three other smaller ones. She summarized that these had to be Bertolt Hoover, Eren Yeager, and Historia Reiss. She glanced back at the forest in the distance as her eyes narrowed. _Where was the other girl, Achi Almen?_ Among the soldiers here, as well, she didn't see her younger brother.

**—-—-—**

"Are we just going to sit here and wait?" Achi asked as she sat cross legged next to Eliza. "It's fine by me if that's what _you_ want to do, but I don't feel like sitting here when Ymir and Historia are over there." _Historia. S_he smiled. _When had she started using Krista's real name like that?_ "And why did you save me? There's got to be a reason behind that, right? I mean, it's not like you really—"

"I do care about you, Achi," Eliza stated bluntly. The accent was still there, her real one, and it didn't seem like she was going to go back to the other anytime soon, if at all now. "I've never..." She cracked her neck. "Met a person like you in a long time, well other than Friedrich and Mina, but they're not here. That willingness to help, even if it costs your lives, I admire that quality. If only... back then... maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they did. Maybe if we'd have had more time, if only—"

"Achi!" a voice called out repeatedly. "_Achi!_ Where are you?!" It was Fritz.

"I stand corrected, one of them is here, just not here with us."

"That idiot..."

**—-—-—**

Commander Erwin looked behind at all the Titans following him and Captain Ines's squad. He turned back around to face the Armored-Type Titan. It'd been a few minutes since he'd ordered Ines to follow him back to the forest to get the remainder of the Military Police. Drawing the Titans along for the ride, he'd since come back, right into the path of the Armored-Type Titan. It was now the only way to stop them from escaping. As he and the Captain got closer and closer with the swarm of Titans behind, the group that'd been on the Armored-Type Titan's back jumped off, and as they did so the Armored-Type Titan began protecting his chest with his arms crossed over in an X shape.

The Commander grimaced. "All units, disperse! Get away from the Armored Titan!" It rammed down one of the larger Titans, which then collided with another and then another, bring all three down at once. "All units! Charge! The fate of mankind's existence will be decided by this moment! Without Eren, the future where mankind can inhabit this Earth will never come to pass! We'll take him back and return at once! Put your hearts to the task!"

Ines and her squad hung back behind the Commander, their priorities still on guard duty, and Zena asked if they should engage again. Ines shook her head just as the Commander was lifted by his arm from atop his horse by a Deviant. Her eyes wide, she yelled for them to start engaging _now_, even though the Commander kept telling everyone to advance. She slashed at the nape of the Deviant's neck with one of her short blades and ordered Larrens to catch the Commander as he fell, digging out the Titan's weakpoint. To her left and right below, riding alongside, were Riecka and Zena, who were watching for anymore incoming threats. Alger had gone off with everyone else to charge the Armored-Type Titan, having disobeyed her orders. She'd have to assume him already to be dead. If he came back alive, all the better, but with his nature, she doubted it. As she cut into the last tendon of the Titan's neck, its body slumping over, she plucked a flower and placed it in her breast pocket for later storage. Larrens came up to her, nobody else with him.

"He went on ahead!" Larrens said and pointed in the direction of the Armored-Type Titan. "I couldn't stop him, Captain! I'm sorry!"

"It's alright! Follow him!" she ordered back and spurred the three of them into action again.

**—-—-—**

Eliza continued on observing the action, though her boredom was growing quickly. "This is—"

"There you two are!" Fritz exclaimed and panted as he came onto the branch. "We... have to... help!"

"Oh?" Eliza retorted. "But they're retreating right now, so what are we going to do...? Help them escape?"

Fritz shook his head back and forth violently. "No! We have to help Reiner and Bertolt!"

"Those asswipes? I'll pass," Achi chimed in.

"Please! We need them! They could have valuable information that could help us!"

"You're right," Eliza chuckled. "We can't have them dying just yet, now can we?" She was suddenly behind him now and he spun with a raised arm.

_Fritz! Get away from her! I can feel her killing intent! _Annie shouted in his head_. It's the same as a Titan's!_

"What?!" Fritz continued his motion as Eliza caught his forearm and squeezed gently.

"Don't. I'm not going to do anything to you two," she said casually as she looked back at the now retreating forces and lifted her hand to her mouth. Reiner was now tossing Titans around, trying to squash them. "I'll handle this, you two just sit back and watch." She bit down on her wrist and drew blood, then leapt from the branch in a flash of bright white light. Coming out on the other side was a seventeen meter tall Titan, female in appearance like Annie's, yet more muscular with claw-like hands, ears, and skin like Ymir's, with a wide mouth. Dark hair went down to her shoulders, curled at the ends in a spiky fashion.

Eliza in her Titan form hit the ground running.

She charged the cluster of Titans at full speed and plowed into them as Reiner, Bertolt, and Ymir all moved away in surprise. Her smile from early was still on her face, almost like an inhuman mask of death and excitement, drinking in all the torment around her. Piercing her claw-like hands into heads and crushing bodies beneath her feet, she quickly helped to clear the remaining Titans off the three of them — steaming as the blood started evaporating.

Garbling something unintelligible, she spat on the already crimson soaked grass a Titan's eyeball, gazing up at Ymir, who tilted her head before she leapt off Reiner's back onto the ground. Eliza's height was taller by a few meters, but that fact didn't change that Ymir was obviously in a higher standing amongst the Titans. Their black eyes met and Eliza's smile curled into a familiar smirk and she opened her giant mouth to speak, sharp teeth gleaming.

"Lady Ymir," she grumbled fluently. Ymir turned to reveal her human form partially poking out of the nape of her Titan's neck. Her eyes were still focused on Eliza's, even in human form.

"Skrymir."

More chuckling, "If you'd allow," Eliza stood up and pointed a clawed finger at the giant forest, "let's move the discussion to somewhere more _civil_." She glanced at Reiner and Bertolt, who were silently watching the whole exchange, as Ymir's human form sunk back into the nape of her Titan's neck. She looked to be in agreement as she started off towards the giant forest where Fritz and Achi were still present. The other three followed her.

Fritz glanced between everyone in confusion as they all stood on the branch in a sort of circle: Achi to his left, Reiner and Bertolt to his right, then Eliza, and finally Ymir. Achi was glaring at Bertolt and Reiner, while they looked just as confused as Fritz, and the other two were intensely trying to stare the other down. After a moment more, Eliza began.

"As I said earlier, we'll continue the discussion here, Ymir. Now, the Coordinate, I saw that Eren had control of it."

"W-who are you?" Reiner blurted, his eyes wide. "How do you know about the—" The distant sound of hooves interrupted him.

"The meeting is being cut short." Ymir stated as she scowled at Eliza. "_Lucky for us_."

"Yes, lucky indeed." Then, turning to Reiner and Bertolt, "You two, I'll show you that the Coordinate isn't the only device that can control them." She went near the edge of the branch and looked down upon the approaching combined Legion and Military forces. "It looks like they couldn't just leave traitors to roam freely, can they?"

"Skrymir!" Ymir yelled as she stepped forward, but the other girl wasn't listening, her mouth assuming a bloodthirsty smile like before, when she'd transformed for the first since regaining her humanity.

Fritz watched as Eliza went further and further out toward the end of the branch, casually walking there without a care in the world that strongly contrasted with the murderous look on her face and his brow furrowed. "Eliza! Don't go down there! I don't know what your motive, or their motives, are, but I don't want to see anyone else die!" His grip tightened on her shoulder and she stopped in her tracks, just at the edge's tip.

Her head bowed, she replied with all the cheerfulness of a cold-blooded murderer of children. "_Friedrich._" The muscles in her arm tightened, and in a flash, the palm of her hand slammed into the cartilage of his nose as she spun around. He fell back, blood gushing, and landed on the branch with a thud. "Sleep for a bit, will you?"

Ymir's eyes became clouded as she watched Achi try to stop the blood with her uniform. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! He's not involved in any of this! You had no right to—!"

"I had _every_ fucking right!" Eliza snarled back, her eyes orbs of death. She continued after a moment in a calmer voice, "This limits his further involvement. With a broken nose like that he'll be out for a month, at the least. Unlike us, he can't regenerate. I'm doing him a favor. Only, the midget, she's in this as deep as those two boys behind her. And the girl back underground, her too... we're all—"

"You—!" A fist impacted into her head. Fritz's face and hand were steaming, the wounds closing up just like a Shifter's. "I'm not _against_ you, so why'd you—!" Eliza tottered, rebalanced, spat blood, then uppercutted him back. He went crashing into Reiner and Bertolt, the three of them tumbling in a heap.

"That's a new one, a human who can regenerate! That's just a riot! Looks like I was wrong, Freckles, it seems Friedrich is in this as deep as the rest of us! Oh, and Friedrich?" She stood over the three of them now and cast a shadow. "If you ever hit me again, I'll skin you alive." Fritz just glared up at her, as did Reiner and Bertolt, who weren't all too happy acting as his collision cushions. "Don't move from this spot, ok?" Eliza then turned, and without giving Achi or Ymir a second glance, stood at the edge's tip again. "Well, Ymir, are you going to stop me? Achi? No? Then," she drew a finger across her cheek, red from when Fritz had punched it, and drew a fresh line of bright red blood, "from this point on, the tables are going to turn." She flicked the blood away, then leaped down and in a flash of light descended, landing with a crash as they started coming over the hill they'd retreated over hours before.

As they stopped at the top, she drew herself to full height and bellowed a bloodthirsty challenge.


	16. Emotions

**XV|. Emotions**

A new swarm of Titans clambered forth from the reaches of the forest in all shapes and sizes. They stood behind Eliza, awaiting orders. She sniffed the air and looked up at Ymir and the others in the trees, before she went towards the humans still positioned on the hill. Summoning her voice, she spoke to them, telling them to turn back or she'd unleash the Titans on their hapless lives.

No mercy, torn limb from limb, basking in their dying screams. Yet, they didn't budge. Slanting her head to the side, she continued to watch them, waiting.

Wondering.

Ymir's roar in the background. They were tearing apart her swarm of followers. Turning to them, telling the remaining Titans to surge on Ymir and the rest, she patiently watched as, slowly, the numbers of her gathered Titans started to dwindle. Upon seeing her opening, she surged through them straight for Fritz and Achi, who were atop Bertolt's back. She clawed and tore at the muscles in his ankles and he went down to one giant knee, kicking up bits of earth and dirt as he roared in pain, and she latched onto him as she continued to claw her way up his skinless hide up to his head. Careful not to accidentally crush Fritz and Achi, she left the battlefield and placed them close enough to the humans to retreat. Once they did, she turned back to Ymir, and rammed her, knocking her down. They clawed at each other until Reiner came over and sideswiped her with his fist, sending her flying into a tree. A bit dazed, she sprang to her feet again and then crept back into the forest.

On one of the higher branches in her human form, she waited for them to kill the last of the Titans. Hands in her pockets, she went to where they stood among the carnage, now in their human forms. "They'll be hunting you three, since they know your faces," she said as she stepped over a dismembered Titan's finger. "You can't go back there with them."

"Shut up, you fucking bitch!" Reiner yelled with a raised fist.

"Skrymir, tell us what you're really after here, I know it wasn't having us or them killed." Ymir said as she calmed Reiner in the process. "You just set loose a ton of them to be sheep to the slaughter and I want to know why."

"Is there a reason? I didn't recall ever having one. I just wanted them to die..." She kicked a chunk of flesh and watched it roll their way. "And, I wanted to show you all that you don't need the Coordinate to control the whims of a Titan's tiny brain."

"What's your motive? Are you planning on hurting anyone? Is it revenge?"

Eliza stared at her for a long moment. "Revenge...?" she repeated, then turned to the sun quickly setting beneath the earth. "No, it's not that. It's my _right_. And, it's as I said, you three can't go back there, so what'll you do? Where will you go? Ymir, I'll make it so nobody has to endure it any longer." Then, she walked away and left the three of them together in the field, surrounded by rapidly dissolving dead Titans and rotting human remains.

**—-—-—**

Fritz collapsed in a heap from the exhaustion of the previous battle. He and Achi had been taken where everyone had retreated to the Wall, only forty left from the original hundred still surviving. Most of them had injuries, only a handful able to move about. Achi had none, while Mikasa had gotten a crushed ribcage from being nearly squeezed to death, but as he touched his nose, it had already healed and reshaped itself correctly. Though, he could still taste blood in his mouth — and his head burnt fiercely. Everything was hazy.

_Don't try and move. Stay still. Your body is still healing the wounds, even if you don't think it is._

_Annie? Is that you_? Fritz wiped hot tears from his eyes and looked up at the night sky, devoid of stars. Shouting and cries of the injured were all around him, but his only focus was on her voice. _Are you saying that I'm... like you? And Ymir, Bertolt, Reiner, and Eliza? Eren? That I'm—_

_I can't say for certain, but you show signs that you could be. It also seems out of us all, you're the one who can heal the fastest, and that girl, Eliza, she's the slowest. I had a feeling you were, but now, after seeing what's happening to you, I'm certain_.

_And… back then, did you control my body?_

_When you were about to be killed by Mikasa? I'm… not sure… Emotions can cause unexplainable things, I suppose…_

_What kind of… emotions? Annie?_

_You've seen my memories, bits and pieces. Right?_

_Hey! Don't change the subject, I__— h_uh? Now that you mention it… Does that mean you can see mine? T-then! Did you see—

_Mina? Yes, I did... Fritz? What's the matter?_

He cradled his head in his hands and bent over to vomit profusely. "My head, it hurts..."

_I told you to stay still, didn't I?_

"Fritz!" Krista's voice called over, a second later the short blonde haired beauty had a delicate hand on his back to make sure he was alright. "You should take it easy, we've all overexerted ourselves and—"

"I-I'm fine, just a headache." He laughed it off, face pale and eyes red.

"No, you're not! Here," she laid him on a blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders and wiped sweat from his forehead, checking for fever. "Stay like this until we're ready to move back out. We'll have to transport you and Mikasa with extra care, along with a few others with severe injuries. The Commander, he's lost an arm." She said nothing more for a few moments, and he knew she was thinking of Ymir. Then, "We've all lost something, but that doesn't mean we should give up, or refuse the help of other people! So right now, you need to rest and we'll handle the rest!"

She smiled down upon him and Fritz thought she looked like an angel in the moonlight, serene and majestic, gentle and kind. He now knew why Ymir liked her so much. A comfort from even the most unbearable of pains, a light shining in the darkness. That was the essence and person of Historia Reiss, and the facade that was Krista Lenz.

As she stroked his hair, willing him to rest, to sleep, he thought of Ymir and the others. What was Eliza up to? What were her goals? How did she and Ymir know each other, and what, his eyes lazily went to Eren's outline further down the Wall, was this Coordinate that Eren now possessed? What had Mina discovered since he'd missed his chance to speak with her? As his eyes became heavy, Historia's pleasant face turned into Annie's stern one.

**—-—-—**

Sasha stepped outside the hut that she and the newly formed Special Operations Squad consisting of herself, Jean, Connie, Eren, Mikasa, Historia, and Armin were lying low in along with Captain Levi, as she felt the gravel crunch beneath her boots as she made her way to her horse, tethered to a tree this time. She got in the saddle and road to the nearest village. Luckily, when she'd taken a few of the provisions from their supplies, Armin hadn't noticed she'd taken more than just the one loaf of bread and she reached down her shirt, taking out three extra pieces as she came closer to the village's outskirts.

Hopefully, Eren wouldn't have noticed her disappearance back at the hut, but she doubted that. Since Wall Rose had been considered Titan-free and safe the week before, he'd never let his guard down. Even when times were quiet, like now. She went down a side street and veered around the corner of the house they'd agreed upon earlier. It was away from prying eyes and back dropped by a forest, which one could ride through without being spotted onto the next village miles away. In the shadow of the house, she could see Jayce's horse, but no sign of the boy himself. She was about to call out when someone crept out from behind her horse's flank. Startled, her horse cried out and she fell, only to be caught by waiting arms. She stared up into Jayce's pleasant face and smiled awkwardly.

"I-I have the bread," she said as turned red and held up the three pieces. Jayce shook his head.

"Sasha, that's only one piece. The other two are on the ground, by your horse's hooves, but it's alright. The refugees won't starve, they've plenty of food already." He set her down and crouched to get eye level, hand over one knee. "One loaf of bread is all they need. Your dad, he said that I should just bring what I can, and—"

"But, this piece is for you! Here, take it!"

Jayce shook his head and pushed it back, then curled her hand around it, close to her chest. "No, it's yours. I'm not doing this for my own benefit, but for your dad's. I own him that much." He had agreed to help her and her village in any way that he could, even if it meant going against the Legion, which was why he was running supplies between refugees. It had started during the Castle Utgard incident, and since a particular incident during that one week of panic, he'd never leave Sasha alone again.

It was when the food had started running low and he had went with Sasha to gather more rations for the villagers, after he'd gone off by himself. That was when she'd been attacked by scavengers wanting easy pickings, and even though Sasha had fended them off, he couldn't bring himself to do that again. He'd vowed to her then to always be there for her. Though, as he took off his cloth coat and put it around her shoulders, really wanted something more. They sat under the shade of the house, next to their horses, absentmindedly eating their share of the one loaf of bread, when Sasha leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Do you think that everyone else is alright?" she whispered. "Fritz and the others, have you heard anything?"

The light of the sun indicated that the time was dusk and he replied with a sigh, "No, I haven't. They're still being questioned, as far as I know. I talked with Eletta yesterday, but she said she hadn't heard anything either."

"Is that so...?" Sasha's voice trailed off and she scrunched up closer to his chest for more warmth. "I hope they're alright."

Jayce slowly rode through the forest and stared down at his reins. His friend, along with Achi and Eliza, had been rounded up along with everyone else who'd sustained some form of lasting injury or were suspected to hold likely information as to the Armored-Type, Colossal-Type, and Dancing-Type Titan's whereabouts, as Ymir had now been dubbed.

The newest one that had appeared during the end of Eren's rescue, which they'd dubbed the "Speaking-Type Titan" on account that it was capable of fluent communication, was disturbing. He wondered what they'd seen, to be still in Military Police custody even after a whole week and a few days had passed.

**—-—-—**

Fritz rattled his handcuffs on his prison cell bars and earned the attention of the guard on duty, a scruffy looking man whose uniform appeared to be uncomfortably constricting around his large frame.

"What is it?" he groaned as he picked something from underneath a fingernail. "If it's about the trial, there's no stopping it in a matter of weeks and, just between you and me, I think you're gonna get executed, like that Yeager kid almost was. Only, this time, yours won't be interrupted."

"Can I have some water?" Fritz asked sheepishly. "My throat is dry..." He opened his mouth and the man turned away in disgust.

"Gross, don't show me that kid! I'll get you some damn water if you stop doing that!"

"Thanks," Fritz said as he watched the man hurry out, and, the moment he was gone, "Achi, hey Achi!" he whispered as loudly as he dared to the girl in the cell next to him, who was trying to sleep sitting up. "Achi!"

"What do you want?" she groaned and kicked the wall, cursing from how hard the stone was. "Unlike you, I'm actually trying to get some rest!"

"When do you think they'll bring Eliza back? I mean, she's been gone for—"

"Does it really matter?" Achi retorted. "You know as well as I do that she'll come back when they're finished with all the questions they want to get answers to. Plus, she's a Shifter, I don't trust any of those fucks, not one bit, so you won't see me worrying over her sorry ass."

"But, what about Ymir? Or Annie?

"They're... different. Neither is a _moron_, like you."

There was a muffled grunt and the door to the prison flung open, Eliza striding in with a bloody hand. She came over and took a hold of Fritz's cell bars, then with inhuman strength bent them wide enough so he could squeeze through, doing the same to Achi's.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" Achi exclaimed as she easily squeezed between her set of bars.

"And where's the guard?!" Fritz asked, still in his cell.

"In a pool of his own blood." She held up the hand, "I made sure he was dead. You should thank me for getting you both out." Her eyes went back at the door. "Now—"

"Wait, don't tell me you—"

"I'm sure you can guess, Friedrich. Now, as I was saying, we need to get out of here. They'll be looking for us shortly."

Despite Fritz's protests, she didn't stop until they were standing on the bridge overlooking the spot where Annie had fallen off Wall Sina in her Titan form not even a month before. When they'd gotten halfway across, Fritz stopped her. She turned slightly to fix him with a serious eye.

"It's none of your business, Friedrich," she stated as she shrugged his hand off and walked the rest of the bridge's length. "You two better get away from here as soon as you can, they'll find the dead bodies soon enough."

Fritz looked down and saw what she'd been referring to: over the side of the bridge were four dead corpses, all wearing the familiar Military Police attire, visible in bloody splatters on the ground below; she'd killed them all before they'd even made it away from the prison! He looked back up to see that she had disappeared.

"Hey, stupid, I know this doesn't sit right with you, but she's right, we have to go. _Now_."

_Achi's right, Fritz. You'd better get away from there unless you want to have a harsher punishment put on your heads_. _Right now, the only thing you and Achi should be focusing on is getting away and lying low. Once you've done that, I've come up with something I want the two of you to hear, but only once you're safe._

**—-—-—**

Achi ignored the people who gave them quizzical looks and kept on going until they were so far away from the prison that she was sure nobody would come looking. She slipped inside an abandoned building up to the second floor, closed the curtains to one of the many windows in the house, crossed her arms and waited. He was lost in thought, and appeared to be arguing with himself. "What is it?"

"I need to tell you something. I mean Annie needs to tell you something."

"Annie isn't here," she replied, and then waved a hand across the room. "She's below ground! Quit playing around!"

"No, that's not what I meant. She's here, in my head, my thoughts, I can... hear her voice."

"You're delusional."

"No, I—! Annie! Stop!" His reply was cut off as he cried out in pain and fell to his knees. Suddenly, he stood back up and his eyes were eerily familiar to the auburn-haired girl; _those same piercing eyes_. "Achi, what Fritz is saying is the truth. Back when I was sealed, our consciousness's reached out to one another and as a result we're linked. I can't explain it in detail, and I can't stay for long either, it causes him pain. This is the first time we've tried this, so I'm not certain what's going to happen once I've stopped communicating directly through him, but you need to hear this. You and Fritz have to come to where I'm sealed and release me, you're going to need my help to take care of that girl. I've found that she's too strong for either of you two to handle alone." Fritz, no, _Annie_, turned to some of the decorations on the wall for a moment. "No, even the three of us together won't be a match for her. We'll need everyone else's help. We're going to have stop her from taking down that suicidal bastard we all know. If it's her, even if other people are with him, even Mikasa and that other one, Levi, she still has the upper hand. Achi, you nee—" Annie, through Fritz, grunted in pain and clutched the right side of her face, "need to hurry. I'm not risking this again with Fritz, s—!" Fritz's body collapsed to the floor.

"Annie!" Achi shouted as Fritz coughed, gagging and convulsing on the floor.

"Did... you..." He spat up a bit of blood and wiped his mouth as he struggled to look up at her. "Get... the message?"

"Yeah, I did, but how are we going to...?"

"I'm not sure that we really can, we'll have to warn Eren and the others first. It's too risky otherwise. Annie has guards posted around her all the time, so going to the others first and telling them about Eliza is our best course of action right now."

"But Annie said—!"

"I know what she said! But we can't risk dying trying to get her unsealed, we'll be no use to _anyone_ if we do that! Especially not to her!"

Achi's features hardened and she went to the door. "I know where we can steal some horses, come on," she said over her shoulder, her voice somewhat melancholy. "If we're going to warn the others we have to hurry..."

"_Achi..._"

"Shut up, I know this is the right thing to do, but I don't want to abandon her or be abandoned by her again. When we get back, _I'll_..." Achi balled her hand into a fist. She sighed and didn't say another word as she sucked in her feelings and went back down the stairs.

Back in the underground prison, the crystal's smooth surface had a small surface crack, barely even visible. Inside, Annie's face was contorted with worry.

_You two, you don't know what you're dealing with_.

The crack became wider, deeper, longer, as her emotions were slowly rising.

S_he's not like other Titans, she's not even human anymore, she's a true monster_.

She could see the world through Fritz's eyes at the moment; Achi's twin-tails and her back as she and Fritz passed through another gate swiftly. The two of them would die along with everyone else if they went there without her. She couldn't let that happen...

The two of them were nearing the village with two other companions, Eletta and Jayce, who'd spotted them when they'd galloped past the Scouting Legion Headquarters and decided to tag along.

Jayce was leading them now, through the forest that he was so now used to, and dead leaves were crushed by his horse's hooves as he went back over what Fritz had told him on the way. Eliza was really a Titan? And not just any Titan, but the Speaking-Type? Though, nothing surprised him as much as it used to anymore, and the only thing on his mind was that Sasha was in danger, and he looked over his shoulder.

"We're coming up on the village now! After we clear that it'll be a straight run to where Sasha and the others are! It's supposed to be a hidden place, but is it possible that she knows about it?!"

"We don't know! But assume that she does, she may even be there already!"

"We have to hurry then!"

"Annie told you guys that you couldn't defeat her with Eren and everyone else there, let alone Captain Levi and Mikasa combined! What difference does it make if we're there too!?" Eletta said as she ducked under a low hanging branch. "Why don't the four of us just head back and get Annie?!"

Fritz tightened his jaw and didn't respond. He didn't want to tell them that he didn't want her to have to go through anymore fighting, anymore pain. Instead, he'd stop Eliza himself. But, if what Annie had said were really true, and without a doubt now he trusted her instincts, he hoped that they'd get lucky enough that nothing tragic was going to happen.

As they cleared the forest and came into the village, the sun was just peeking over the clouds, casting a dark yellow hue over everything. Their shadows danced, reappeared, and disappeared as they went as fast as they humanly could, leaving the outskirts of the village and rushing over a hill.

After a time, they came to a clearing with a hut atop a rise. The hut looked very makeshift, and as Fritz peered closer he could see nine silhouettes present, instead of the eight that should there. Eight of the people clearly came into focus, and the ninth one facing them shook their head and laughed as if she'd expected their arrival all along.

"What took you guys so long?" Eliza asked, accent gone. "Did you come to help out?"

"What the hell are you going on about!?" Achi fumed, jumping from her horse. "Quit messing around you—!"

"Achi! Fritz!" Historia exclaimed, and after a moment, "Jayce and Eletta too!"

"Brat, what's going on here?" Captain Levi asked, his eyes going from her to the four that just arrived. "How did the five of you find out about this location?" His voice was calm, but it was apparent by his eyes that he was seriously angry.

"It's suspicious," Mikasa added, her glare fixed on Fritz.

"Guys, calm down." Armin said to ease the atmosphere. Then, to Eliza, "You said that you needed help, but you never said more people would be on their way. We need an explanation before this goes any further."

"You're Armin, correct?" Eliza asked and the boy nodded as he waited for her to continue speaking as she looked at the other seven in turn. "Connie, Jean, Mikasa, Levi, Sasha, Krista, and... _Eren_..." Her eyes rested on the dark haired boy with a frightening intensity and he scowled.

"What? Do you have something to say or not?! Quit stalling and tell us already!"

She looked to the sky briefly. "If that's what everyone wants, I'll oblige, it's only courteous, right? Armin, you seem to be the one with the best grasp of the situation here, so I'll ask you: what is that boy to you?" She pointed at Eren and caught Mikasa's glare. "I wasn't asking you, girl, I'm asking _him_. Armin, what if I were to tell you that I need him for a moment, would you be willing to give him up? Would all of you being willing, or..."

"What the hell is she—"

"Don't listen to her, she's—!" In the blink of an eye, Achi's warning was cut off by a scream as blood spurted from a diagonal gash to her chest, and she fell to her knees. In Eliza's hand was a deep red dagger and before anyone could act she pushed her into Fritz.

"Don't... interrupt me..." Her accent was back to her true one, face contorted into a smile again. Yet, her voice, there were hints of strain, as if she was really struggling.

_Achi_...

Annie's crystal shattered violently. Shards of various size flew in all directions as she fell to the floor and managed to stay conscious by sheer willpower alone, her body exhausted and stiff.

_I won't..._

"Achi!"

Blood pooled from her mouth and chest wound profusely and Fritz filled with more rage than he'd ever thought he was capable of. "She's the Speaking-Type Titan! She's after Eren! Get away from her _now!_" he shouted as Eliza's dagger went towards her skin swiftly.

Everyone reared back just as the dagger stopped midway. "And here I thought you weren't against me. You could have stayed far away from all this and then Achi's life could have been saved, but it's too late for that now because everyone's going to die here, it's a shame really."

"Don't let her transform!" Armin shouted and Jean's face dropped as Eliza drew blood.

"It's too late..."

As light enveloped Eliza's body everyone scrambled down the rise towards the bottom, Historia and Fritz having to carry Achi. As they laid her down, Historia tried compressing the wound.

"We have to check if she's still breathing!" She put her ear to Achi's right breast and listened for a heartbeat, but heard nothing, no pulse, and tore at the grass, still wet with dew from an early morning shower.

Just then, Fritz put his hand on Achi's chest, cut bits of skin fusing back together, steam emanating from his fingertips.

Hands and the front of her uniform soaked, Historia stared at him in amazement as Eliza's Titan form appeared out of the flash of light. "H-how did you—"

"Guys, we have bigger problems to worry about!" Eren shouted as he ran up to where Eliza was looking down from the hut and bit his thumb to come out in Titan form. He collided with her, destroying the hut as they grappled.

"He's right! There's nothing can do! We have to take care of the Speaking-Type!" Armin added. "_Krista! Fritz!_"

"No, I'm not leaving her side!" Historia shouted and watched as Fritz was still trying to close more of the wound. "Come on, Achi! Don't give up!"

"Everyone! Stay back and let Eren wear her down," Captain Levi ordered.

"But, Captain Levi—!"

"Something's different about this one, she's toying with him," the Captain said without missing a beat as he observed Eliza's evasive nature everytime Eren tried getting a hit in. "If you rush in there now she'll just kill you without even trying."

**—-—-—**

_I won't leave you alone anymore_!

Annie crawled forward on her stomach using her shoulders, oblivious to everything else around her.

_I promised that I'd protect you_!

She was going to make it in time...

Her heartbeat faint, Achi could hear distant cries and shouts, but they were so far away that she couldn't make them out. All she saw was darkness. In that darkness, kept in a cage of loneliness, was something she'd thought she had buried a long time ago, but now...

Reaching the door from her crawl, Annie put a hand to the frame and paused to catch her breath. Achi was dying. She eased open the door and found that nobody was there, just like when Fritz had tried to rescue her. Not having time to dwell, she felt along the wall as she walked for support, careful not to get in the light of the torches lest someone really was there, waiting in the shadows to subdue her. The corridor was rather long, but finally it split off, and she guessed this must also have been the same way that Fritz and the others had used to get to her.

She pushed off the wall and went to the one on the new corridor as she slowly made her way up and hoped that the sound of her boots scrapping the ground wouldn't alert anyone to her presence — if they hadn't heard the crystal shatter already. She needed to get there before anything else happened. Through Fritz's eyes, she could see that he was still trying to revive Achi, whose eyes had fluttered briefly. She stumbled and fell again, getting to her feet in the same instance. She wasn't about to be put down now, she had to get there no matter how much it caused her body to hurt. Her spirit wouldn't let her stop, wouldn't let her quit, wouldn't let her lie down and accept.

The light of the morning blinded her as she exited the underground prison. Her hair, now around her ears and shading her eyes, helped to partially keep the light at bay. Passerbys looked at her with pity and contempt for her uniform was now caked in dirt, dust, and grime, but none dared say anything since she still wore the insignia of the Military Police. She wondered why there had been no guards posted and got her answer when a lone woman with black hair that went down to her shoulders, dark brown eyes that held a tempered fire, and a Scouting Legion Captain's uniform, stood before her. The woman had two short blades at her belt and she was absentmindedly thumbing them.

Annie backed away. From Fritz's memory, she knew this was his older sister, Ines, but based on the woman's actions, Annie knew she couldn't trust her. When she tried backing up a bit more something solid blocked her retreat and she looked up into the eyes of one of Captain Ines's subordinates. She was holding her bangs away from her forehead to see her clearly. It was Captain Ines's second in command, Riecka.

"Don't move," the woman said, not moving to subdue her, but nonetheless could at any moment if she wished, or, if Ines commanded. The woman grabbed her head and turned it forward, to Ines again, who had come closer and motioned for Riecka to let go. Before she could, Annie shook her off and stepped forward, locking eyes with the dark haired Captain.

"Let me go, I—!"

Ines held up a gloved hand. "We know. My squad and I are coming as well." She waved a hand above and Annie saw that two others were strategically positioned on rooftops within close proximity just in case she tried anything rash. "I need to see this Speaking Titan for myself, but before that I want to hear directly from you first before proceeding: what exactly are we dealing with?"

Annie fixed a strand of hair and took a step forward, side to side with the Captain. "A girl with nothing to lose," she whispered, the Captain unfazed as she ordered her squad to gather the horses and secure a spare.

Fritz had managed to get her breathing steadily, so now it was unlikely that she'd die from her injuries, which he had stopped externally. From how deep the gash was, though, she was worried that he couldn't heal internal injuries. The mysterious powers of the Titan-Shifters were still being discovered and worked out, tested, so there was no telling what his healing abilities were yet capable of. Then there was Eren, able to control Titans by his emotions alone. She had to be careful approaching, since there would surely be unresolved tension between everyone. Though, she knew that if nobody else was, that Fritz would defend her.

_Even if the rest of the whole world cursed __and resented her_.

As they went through the gates leading to a stretch of land that went straight onwards to the next District, she also had a feeling that Historia, Jayce, and Eletta would also be on her side. The problem was the others. Especially Mikasa. There was no telling if she'd try to kill her outright or not. The hunch was that, given her recent actions, like when she'd threatened to kill Historia if she got in her way back during the Castle Utgard incident, that an attempt was likely. She clenched a fist tightly. This time, if it came down to it, she'd kill her.

"Leonhart, focus!" Ines called over her shoulder. "This isn't the time to let your emotions get the better of you!"

The Special Investigations Squad had boxed her in on all sides, with Ines in front, Larrens and Zena to either side, and Riecka taking up the rear. Alger was nowhere in sight. "Weren't there five of you?" she asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from the Captain herself. She was unlike Fritz in some many ways, yet they held that same fire in their eyes that intrigued her.

They rode in silence until they cleared two smaller towns when Ines finally decided to answer that question, "He went down last week, during the failed operation to capture both the Armored Titan and Colossal Titan. As it stands now, we deal with the Speaking Titan and think of nothing else." Ines took the time to turn back briefly and lock eyes with her again. "There's no such thing as a regret to me anymore. Everything sacrificed is for humanity, everything lost is on our hands, and everything gained is a step closer to figuring out what the Titans really are." With that, she turned back to the front and quickened her horse's pace, forcing everyone else do the same, their horses near the breaking point.

Annie stared at the Scouting Legion insignia on the Captain's cape as it fluttered around and thought that before this moment that the two of them had been similar. But now, Annie knew better. Unlike Ines, she wasn't one to throw regrets away and surge forward unshaken, she wasn't the type to abandon others to their fates, and she wondered now: _when had that changed?_When had she starting thinking this way?

Fritz's face came to her and then she realized that, no, she had it known all along, the hut not much further ahead.


	17. Pain

**XV||. Pain**

"Levi, the Commander has orders for you and your squad to pull back to Sina with Eren alive at all costs!"

"Oh? Did he leave you in charge of taking care of this bitch?" he asked as he nodded toward Eliza. "Well, regardless, we can't leave unless Eren stops fighting. Is that brat on horseback here to relieve him?"

"That's right, if everything goes as planned. Hange should be waiting for you guys with some spare horses on the outskirts of the village, so the moment that girl transforms, you'll get Eren out of his Titan and retreat."

"And what about the other girl?"

Ines glanced over at her younger brother, Achi, and Historia. Eletta was hovering nearby, unsure if she should lend a hand or not. "I'll take care of her, the injured will just get in your way. Leave the others who came here of their own volition to me and my squad."

"I'll leave it to the Special Investigations Squad, then, and, Ines? Don't let any of them die. We may need them as valuable witnesses if there is ever a trial later."

"I'll keep that in mind," Ines responded coldly. His eyes, they reminded her of a vulture's, creatures with small narrowed eyes that liked picking away at dead corpses. More devious than crows.

**—-—-—**

Annie looked over at Fritz and watched each beat of sweat drip from his face onto Achi's torn shirt, and knew that some of them were actually tears. Briefly shifting her gaze to Mikasa, then to Eliza and Eren atop the rise, seeing the hut smashed to pieces, splinters of wood all along the hill, she got off her horse and sprinted for it. The moment she made it to the top, she transformed and collided into two of them. She pulled Eren off, then proceeded to grapple with Eliza, who looked thrilled to have a worthy opponent. If anything, something to play with until she got rid of the Coordinate, but Annie wasn't about to let her.

_The side of herself that she hated, she let it run free._

Going for a mid-kick, Eliza caught the blow and twisted around as she twirled her body and kicked up with her knee under Eliza's, and in response Eliza just smiled. As she came up Eliza tried to elbow her, and staggered when she scored a direct hit to the other side. Before Eliza could try anything else, Annie crouched and swiped her feet, hoping that Eliza would jump out the way, thus giving her enough space to leap up and swing her leg at her neck, but Eliza rushed in and Annie countered by sweeping her punch to the side, at the same time hardening her skin just as her fist impacted with her opponent's face. The attack didn't even break skin.

"Good..." Eliza pressed her face further into Annie's fist. "But..." The arm that she'd swept away came back and sunk its claws into her left arm, and Annie broke contact just as Eliza hardened her skin, the arm coming free. Blood dripping off the muscle and tendons, Eliza nonchalantly tossed it down the hill.

Annie caught it before it had time to reach everyone down below. She crashed to the ground, rooting earth and sliding to a halt meters away from them. Eliza had vanished, and she guessed that she fled into the woods, and sat waiting. When she didn't reappear, Annie knew that she'd either gone after Eren in her human form or laid off until they were thinking everything was relatively safe to attack again. She felt something on her chest.

"The Speaking-Type retreated, come on out," Ines commanded. "Larrens and Zena, watch the perimeter just in case. Riecka, salvage whatever you can from that hut and bring it down." Without averting her eyes from her squad, the Captain went back to her again. "Did she say anything valuable to you during your fight?" Annie tried her best to shake her head "no". "I see, in any case get out of there, there's no need for your Titan form any longer."

The nape of her neck opening, Annie slowly emerged herself from the knots of muscle and dropped to the ground, sweaty and exhausted. Her vision was blurry and she stumbled to where Achi was, her left arm steaming, fighting to cope with the needles of pain. Finally reaching her friend, she sank to her knees and stared at her for a long while, Fritz next to her with his head in his hands. Historia's face was hollow and drained of all color, no more tears to shed since she'd been doing it nonstop, her reserves all gone, hands uselessly lying in her lap. Annie reached a hand out to touch Achi's face, still warm, eyes closed.

All the blood was gone, and she looked relatively peaceful, sleeping there...


	18. Capture

**XV|||. Capture**

"Commander Erwin, we've managed to dig up old documents from the King's archives and, after narrowing down the sources, we've come up with a number of incidents involving the Speaking-Type Titan. It seems that all of the documents date back a century ago, at the least."

"Around when the Walls were first built, you mean," Erwin pointed out as he went from the Squad Leader to the stump that was now his right arm. "Continue."

"Around that time, it appears that Eliza was active in both the Garrison and the Scouting Legion. There are notes of praise for her when she was with the Garrison, until she abruptly joined the Scouting Legion against her parent's wishes, and get this Erwin: she was the niece of the King that ruled back then. She's this current King's ancestor."

"These... incidents... happened after she joined up with the Scouting Legion back then? What was the first one recorded? Did it have anything to do with the Titans?"

"No, it didn't. Unlike the Garrison, the Scouting Legion even back then treated everyone on equal footing, even relatives of the King. Furthermore, she was a very hot-tempered and brutal fighter, so she'd often get into insignificant scuffles with the other members. The first real incident, one involving the Titans like you asked, happened a year or two after."

"The Red-Field Massacre? The Speaking Titan was responsible?"

Hange nodded. "And also, what was written in the reports is false. The reason for her killing spree back then was actually for something entirely different than the mere scare of potential disease. Also, we tried to find any similar information regarding Ymir, but nothing came up in our searches. She doesn't exist, as far as any old documents say..."

Bells started ringing through the Inner District, signifying the beginning of the trial. "Keep your eyes and ears open," Commander Erwin advised her as he moved to be first inside. A smile was on his lips as he strode past his men and walked through the courthouse doors, ready to end the girl's game once and for all.

The Inner District's courthouse was large enough to sit over three hundred people behind specific rows that were sectioned off based on their affiliation to those on trial and that of humanity's future in general. Constructed in a square shape, there was a large space in the center of the room, directly in front of the judge's podium. As Commander Erwin and his charges stood there, everyone waited for the trial to commence.

After all that's happened, most of the crowd wanted the blood of the ones responsible, and were content to just lump all that blame onto Erwin's shoulders. They cried and booed and shouted their complaints and protests, their threats and vows, until Supreme Commander Zackley, head of all three branches of the military, silenced then by slapping his hand on the podium desk. He turned to say something to the King when the room was quiet again.

The King's eyes darted between everyone in Commander Erwin's company. Head bare, he wore no crown and had sparsely any hair, clothes plain. It was part of a personal pledge that everyone was to be viewed as an equal and his eyes were a deep dark blue that had seen perhaps _too _many years, despite his youthful appearance. After a long moment of silence, he clasped his hands on his own podium.

"Gathered here today are the persons heavily involved in the two months, spanning a number of incidents that have to do with humanity's survival. At the center of all of this are these so called 'Titan Shifters', the one most talked of being the former trainee Eren Yeager. Commander Erwin of the Scouting Legion is here today, before us, before me, with members of both the 104th trainee group that Yeager was a part of as well as some of his most trusted advisers and comrades. Commander Erwin, I am aware that the recently captured Annie Leonhart, the Female-Type Titan, is also present and accounted for?"

"Yes, she is." The group parted to reveal the Titan-Shifter. There gasps from the crowd and hushed protests and, again, they were silenced.

"Also in your company, you have the run-away daughter of the Reiss household, two of the traitors who helped Leonhart in her failed capture attempt during the 57th Expedition, as well as—"

"_One _of the _former _traitors, sir," a voice proclaimed loudly as everyone turned to see that Fritz had stepped up, as Eren tried to support him from behind, held back by Mikasa. "Achi Almen... she was killed by the Speaking-Type Titan three days ago. It was my fault..."

"Brandt!" Captain Ines said sharply, ready to knock him to the ground for doing something so brash and stupid, when the King waved it off and leaned forward for a second time.

"And, son, you are...?"

"Sir! Friedrich Brandt, graduate of the 104th and newly appointed member of the Scouting Legion!" Fritz saluted and tried his best not to falter with so many hateful eyes from all directions. "I believe that the people with these abilities are the best shot we have to beating the Titans!"

Without a second thought, the King moved to Eren. "Eren Yeager, after hearing those words, does your previous statement during the inquiry of your execution a month ago still stand? Your proclamation that '_all of us are cowards and that you should put your trust in me_'?"

Eren saluted and stood proudly to give his answer. "Yes, I fully too believe that I, no, _we_, are the best hope that humanity has. Even with all that's happened, I know this to be true! The answer is still in my house's basement that my dad told me about, and I want all of you to give us the support to still carry out that mission that failed during the 57th Expedition!"

"There is also the possibility that the Speaking-Type Titan is still out there, waiting for the moment to strike when we least expect her to," Commander Erwin cut in, "and it would be within humanity's best interests if we deal with her swiftly before doing anything else."

"And this other Titan-Shifter, the Speaking-Type Titan, where is she now? Commander Erwin, have you managed to track her down?" the King asked, his voice choking slightly, as if just the mention caused him distress. "Have you managed to make sure that this trial was secure before approving it?" His eyes went around the room at all the locations that Erwin had placed one of his men, then noticed that something wasn't right. The one nearest the center of the room had his hood drawn over his face. The King sighed and all eyes turned to the hooded figure. "And, I wonder, is she here with us now, trying to pass as a member of the Scouting Legion as we sit here discussing loyalties and betrayals?"

The figure removed their hood and it was revealed that it was indeed Eliza, who didn't have a hint of emotion of her face as members of the Military Police surrounded with their muskets drawn and aimed at her vitals. She caused most of them to flinch in fear as she nonchalantly went through them and came beside Eren.

"Why are you here...? No, I can see it in those eyes of yours. That intensity."

Supreme Commander Zackley held up his hand for his men to keep their weapons trained at her, the tension rising as she pulled something from its scabbard at her hip: a sword that hadn't been used in a century, newly sharped just for a special occasion.

Without a word in response, she swiped the blade out and sliced the air, as she then charged forward and lashed out at the King, who ducked, barely avoiding the slice that would have bisected him and stumbled away from her second attack, as two members of his guard rushed to meet her. She simply gutted the first and beheaded the second, knocking their bodies over the ledge of the stand and into the center of the courthouse, where Commander Erwin watched.

The Commander put his hand into the air, giving the first signal to commence the plan he devised earlier, and as Captains Ines and Levi started to issue orders to their respective charges, he continued to watch as Eliza cut down soldiers one by one, even citizens and officials who got in her way as they all scrambled to flee, and noticed that she wasn't the slight bit as interested in the King as previously believed. No, it was something more than that, and he knew what it was. _Her loss of humanity_. Without hesitation, he brought his hand down and gave the second, and final, signal for the plan. "Everyone, don't let the Speaking Titan escape at all costs!"

**—-—-—**

Eliza ran her finger along the edge of her sword and frowned. It was needlessly getting dull. Jumping to the center stage, she flashed her teeth and took a step in Eren's direction just as a girl with dark hair and a red scarf intercepted her. Lashing out, she was surprised when the girl deflected it and used that split second to knock her away with an elbow.

As she reversed her grip on her blade, Mikasa waited cautiously as her opponent stood still, studying the surroundings and her all at the same time. She knew that even with her skill, Eliza's experience trumped hers and got the memo hard when her head snapped sideways from a direct hit to her temple. Dazed, she faintly made out Eliza's shape as the girl came at her with no remorse or hesitation and was about to bring her sword down on her in the same fashion as she'd done back then, when someone came to her rescue.

Annie knocked Eliza down and gave her the precious time she needed to get to her feet and retreat. With a nod, and not a word between them, she gave her thanks. No matter how much she disliked who was on her side at the moment, the plan wasn't going to succeed without all of them in unison working together. Mikasa went back to Eliza who had slowly risen to her feet, and knew the bitch was chuckling to herself.

Just then, Commander Erwin gave the signal for the second phase of the plan: everyone was to continue the retreat outside and goad her, then once she was successfully away from the confines of an enclosed environment, Eren and Annie were to immediately turn as it was very likely that Eliza was to do the same.

Mikasa looked back and wished her had her 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear, as Eliza had charged out right after them. At this, she scowled because they'd capture her faster if all of them had their Gear, yet Commander Erwin had only ordered the two Captains to don their Gear, Ines and Levi. Just those two were enough to take her down along with Annie and Eren in their Titan forms, but she still felt uneasy about it. If the Commander had only allowed her to have hers too, _then..._

"Mikasa! Get back!" Eren yelled as he grabbed her harshly by the shoulder and pulled her away, then in a familiar flash of light, transformed and roared down at the girl who was the Speaking-Type Titan, now just a small insignificant speck compared to his hulking form. The girl ran sideways towards the river that ran through every single Wall, baiting him.

"Annie! Get moving!" Mikasa screamed when she saw that the blonde haired girl was still human as she watched Eliza nimbly evaded each and every strike and grab Eren made for her, destroying streets, buildings, and other locations in his frustration. She poised her blade below Annie's neck and threatened to slit her throat if she didn't act _now_.

Annie just glared at her from the corner of her eye, "Don't you think something's off about this?"

Mikasa noticed it and cursed for not realizing it immediately. Eliza still hadn't transformed and she was leading Eren further and further away towards Wall Sina! "That's all the more reason for you to _do _something about it!" she still shouted in anger. "You're not accomplishing anything by just standing here and watching! What about Achi?! Doesn't that _bitch_ deserve punishment for her death?! Aren't you going to do something about that?! Wasn't she your friend?! Do something!"

"Mikasa! Calm down!" Armin interjected as he put a hand between them. "Annie's right, there's definitely something not right about this! Commander, what's the next course of action?!"

"Everyone continue to hang back for now, make sure any wounded are accounted and taken care of, then get your Gear from the wagon we brought along. Once we're all situated, I want teams of four to take to the rooftops and observe the Speaking Titan's actions. Whatever you do, don't let her out of your sight!"

Everyone saluted and ran off to get the Gear, of which most of them were glad to do so. Mikasa hastily strapped hers on and went to the nearest roof. She continued to watch the game that Eliza was playing with Eren and took out her blades with a renewed fury. This time, she wasn't about to let him get farther and farther away!

Captain Ines stood beside Captain as they both looked down upon Eren and Eliza. Ines knew that it wouldn't be long before she got bored and killed him. But, as Commander Erwin had noticed and pointed out to the two of them and Squad Leader Hange, the Speaking-Type's goal was something different than what they'd previously thought. Her aim didn't seem to be killing the Coordinate or the King at all and as Ines continued to watch her weave in and out of Eren's massive hands, that assumption became all the more truthful.

"She's trying to prove something," Levi said softly. "Something along the lines of '_let's see how many of you I can toy with until I reveal my true motives and ideals to the world_'. The way she moves, the way she talks, they're all contradictory to her actions until now. Back at the hut, she never once tried killing Eren despite having multiple opportunities. In the courthouse, she again had a chance to take him out and the King as a bonus, but she didn't do it. Now, she's toying with Eren again instead of outright killing him. It's not that she doesn't enjoy playing with her food, but that she has deeper conflicts inside of her that take more of a priority than going past that and killing him. She's telling us: '_you'll never defeat the Titans and save humanity if you can't even defeat one of your own first_'. It looks to me like... that girl... hates pointless deaths. Deaths that serve no purpose and have no meaning, yet is willing to carry them out if it means getting her point across and her goals further along."

"Someone with a purpose and, in the end, a death sentence," Ines added coolly. "Someone who's lost everything and if this is her only chance to pass on what she wants to someone else, she'll have to forsake her humanity for the greater good of humanity. A true demon and true saint as any..."

"Annie! Is something wrong?! You still haven't transformed yet? Are you unable to?!" Armin frantically asked as he spread his arms. He pointed in the direction. "If you don't transform into a Titan now then we'll have to go in and try to stale her! Eren is exhausting himself out there! _Annie_!"

Annie responded in what was barely a whisper, "She's not our enemy," she said, just as shocked that she said the words as Armin was.

"What the hell Annie?" Connie exclaimed, Eletta, Sasha, and Historia next to him in their own group.

"W-wha— Annie! What do you mean?!" Historia shouted, getting in her face. "She killed Achi! She killed all those other people and even went after the King! She's an enemy to all humanity and you say that she isn't?!"

"Is there a reason for that, Annie...?" Eletta added. "There just has to be... right?"

"It was that look in her eyes." Annie replied. "They held sadness and pain, understanding and contempt. Loneliness. I bet that she's been feeling that way for a long time. Recently, when I and Fritz were connected, I noticed that they had softened, bringing with it something she's probably never felt in a long time. _Love_. _Belonging_. While I can't ever forgive her for what she did to Achi, I know what she's been feeling all this time so well that words can't properly describe it." She clutched her Military Police uniform where her heart was and twisted it. "That pain."

"I think I understand," Armin said as he nodded slowly, "but we can't wait long, so whatever you're thinking make it quick!"

"I know that." Annie grasped her forearm; she was shaking slightly. _Why? Was she afraid_? No, she was apprehensive. _Achi... she wanted to see the world through her eyes, what she went through and how she dealt with it. Yet she..._She cut into the palm of her hand with the needle from her father's ring and told everyone to stand back as she jumped off the building and landed in her Titan form. As fast as she could, she rushed to assist Eren in his fight.

Eliza had already sensed the potential danger and slashed at Eren's Achilles tendons, rendering him immobile while she leaped back to transform herself. Now in her Titan form, she assumed a defensive stance as Eren tried to lunge at her, easily evading — her leg connecting with his skull a second later. The blow snapped his head back as he fell into and crushed a building, now unconscious. Moving from his sprawled out form to her newest opponent, she smiled.

The moment she got lower and sprang forward by her legs with enough force to destroy the street below, Annie effectively side stepped and grabbed her by the waist, taking her in chokehold. In response, Eliza simply clawed into her back and broke through the crystal armor Annie had used to soften the blow. Annie sent her flying into a nearby chapel, similar to the one she'd fallen on in her fight with Eren. This time there was nobody inside as beforehand Commander Erwin had instructed the Military Police to evacuate everyone before and yet, she knew that the girl's goal wasn't to kill anyone and just used that as an excuse. Annie hardened her fist with crystal as she brought it down into Eliza's ribcage repeatedly, thinking all the while of what her real motives and goals were. _Why was she doing all of this_? _Why Achi? Why her of all people?!_

She stared into her opponent's black eyes and saw nothing but remorselessness at first, but searching hard enough, she could see a deep sadness and regret. Pain shot through her gut as Eliza clawed into her stomach and lifted her up, then sent her crashing down. Annie was still focusing on Eliza's eyes as the other girl slammed her foot down on her throat and incapacitated her as well.

Her two opponents defeated, Eliza made the mistake of relaxing for a split second and that was when Captains Levi and Ines made their move, slicing at the joints and tendons in her arms and legs, rendering her helpless as she fell backwards into the now ruined chapel again. She acted quickly as she then released herself from the nape of her Titan's neck and crawled out into what remained of the inside of the chapel, only to have the still standing ruins fall on top of her and seemingly crush her flat along with the pillar she leaned against for support.

With caution, the two Captains approached the dissolving remains of Eliza's Titan form. "Don't let your guard down, she's still dangerous even when severely injured." Captain Ines advised as Captain Levi stepped up to the remains, eyes on the rubble where Eliza was emerging from, an arm dangling and most of the right side of her body caked in dust, dirt, and an impressive amount of blood. No steam came from her pores like the other Titan-Shifters and one could guess that all her fight had left her then. The pillar had survived the falling debris and she had the other hand still on it as a support to stand, her side impaled by piece of a support beam, blood dripping down her chin onto what remained of her clothes and the rubble at her feet. She exerted herself to sit upon the statue and laid her head back, waiting until the Captains stood before her.

"So..." She coughed and spat blood, her voice hoarse, "Looks like I've lost, haven't I?"

Captain Levi stared down at what remained of the sword she had clutched tightly in a broken wrist and bloody fingers. The blade had snapped off near the hilt and what once held beauty now appeared pathetic and small; chipped and worthless. "We didn't do all of this to kill you outright, at least for the time being. I'll be personally seeing to your interrogation..."

"Hah! Well isn't that something?! _Interrogation_! You and I both know even a Titan-Shifter can't survive the injuries I have. By the time you manage to get me somewhere secure, I'll have already left this world for someplace else. Someplace... _darker_..." She looked past him at Commander Erwin as he approached and saluted mockingly despite her severe condition.

"Speaking-Type Titan. No, Eliza — I have some questions for you, but first: Friedrich Brandt, come here."

"Yes, sir!" Fritz made his way carefully to Commander Erwin and looked at Eliza. "Do you want me to...?"

"Yes, with your ability we have a good chance at preserving her life until we get the answers we need. I want you to focus everything you have into the task of keeping her alive, do you understand?"

"Yes!" Fritz moved up and placed his hands on Eliza's chest, and her smile turned into a frown.

"But... how can you... after I..." she started to say and her voice trailed off as she watched him start to close the most severe of her wounds, already sweating from the exertion. Through her eyes, she saw that he wasn't afraid or even the least bit angry with her as his hands became soaked in her blood. "_Why..._?"

"Because _she_ would have done the same thing in my position!" He told her through clenched teeth as he worked diligently to save her and she looked up at the evening sky. There were dark clouds and in a moment it was about to come pouring down on their heads and all she could think about was how her first drops of rain in decades felt. Cold, like her heart. Warm, like her soul. For the first time, she started to shed the tears she thought had dried up long ago.

**—-—-—**

A pale green light shone in the darkness of the cell the prisoner Eliza was being kept in, and it was coming from Friedrich Brandt's hands as he steadily went about healing her wounds. He had to keep his hands a few centimeters from a person's bare skin because if he got too close he'd burn through their flesh and if he was too far away his ability won't work at all. Because of Achi's death, he'd been trying his damnedest to heal internal injuries as well as external and so far he's been able to do so with Eliza. For that, he was glad.

It'd been a couple of hours since Eliza's capture and his two orders were to keep her alive at all costs, the second to probe her for any information that she may consciously or subconsciously blurt out. Mina Carolina had also been rounded up to provide any other information, and was in the cell along with them. Throughout the night nothing but silence had passed between the three of them, as Eliza had an arm resting over her eyes the whole time and he was too busy healing, but now, he hoped she was willing to talk to him. If nothing else, about little things.

"I'm going over the more insignificant ones now," he informed her and turned slightly red because in order to cover her entire body she had to be naked, trying his hardest not to let his eyes wander. Instead, he concentrated them on her face as he waited for the time when she would remove her arm and look at him too. From Annie, he learned that eye contact can tell a lot about how someone's feeling. The hole caused by the support beam that pierced her was already closed, but he was worried it might reopen and was going over it to double check when he heard her sigh in exasperation.

"Don't go too far down, you pervert," she groaned as finally made eye contact by moving her arm up just enough so she could fix an eye on him. He realized then that they had the same eye color, though hers was a deep and dark shade of green whilst his was significantly brighter. "And don't smile like that, you damn creep," she groaned again and turned to the wall of her cell, staring at the cracks and crevices. "And Mina... you said you wouldn't tell anyone anything about me or the—"

"I know, I'm sorry! It's just you can't do it by yourself!"

"Do what?" Fritz asked as his eyes went to Mina briefly. "If it's something important..."

"It's not like it matters now." Eliza snapped back. Then, "Why didn't you just kill me?"

"I already told you the reason, Eliza, because Annie would have saved you, and, so, I want to save you, too. Through and through, and nothing's ever going to change that." Fritz nodded toward Mina, who probably felt the same way, considering she divulged information about Eliza for her sake.

"Even if I killed the midget?" she retorted as she rolled over on her side so her whole body was facing the wall. Fritz took the opportunity to work on her upper back now, which had burn marks and small nicks from all the debris that she landed on and had landed on her. A quick glance that he couldn't help revealed that the muscles in her shoulders were very toned. "Is there a problem?" Eliza asked, slightly annoyed at the stupid expression on his face she saw through a combination of using a hand hardened over with crystal and the light from his hands as a reflective mirror.

"I just never guessed that you were so—"

"Muscular? It happens when you've been practicing with swords for the majority of your life. To have the strength required to lift them, let alone swing them efficiently, takes a lot of hardship. Why? Do you not have a thing for muscles on women?"

"I just... never thought you could be so strong, Eli."

_Eli? "Strong?"_ Eliza whispered to herself. "You mean _weak_? That's all I really am, in the end. I couldn't convince anyone back then of my ideas and it's as sure as hell too late now. I killed a friend on top of that, and you're calling me not weak, but strong?"

"Yeah... I am." Fritz replied softly as he thought of Achi and how strong she'd been. All the times when she refused to give up or take no for an answer, all the times when she'd act like things didn't bother her and continued on. "It takes a really strong person to keep their composure when someone they care about is taken away from them. And, even if the way you went about it may have been wrong, in my eyes you're still one of the strongest people I know. Just like Kalia, Kazue, my older brother, and Achi. All of you have some strength that keeps you going, even in death. It's something to learn from. That resolve."

"Don't lump me together with them if I'm not dead myself."

"And that's what makes you as strong as Annie in my eyes: you're not dead yet. You refused to give up, you refused to let your light go out."

"So you're saying all those other people you just named gave up and kicked the bucket?"

"No... I guess... you were just luckier than they were to make it this far..."

"There's no such thing as luck in this world, Friedrich. If there was, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I'd rather be dead." Abruptly, Fritz stopped healing her and she could hear his teeth grind.

"Don't you ever say that, you hear me? If you were to die... I don't want anymore holes to open up in my heart... so I'd just try my damnedest to keep you alive, you got that?"

"Fritz is right, Eliza! Giving up on life is too tragic, think of us! The people who want to see you alive! Aren't we enough for you not to give up?!" Mina shouted and grasped Eliza's hand in hers and squeezed.

"You're all so... _naïve_..." Eliza replied, though she couldn't hide the small smile that crept to her lips. "But... thanks... even if your friendship is misplaced on a person like me..."

**—-—-—**

"The Speaking-Type Titan is still being healed by Friedrich Brandt and has been moved to Scouting Legion Headquarters in secret per your orders. How shall we proceed from there?" a soldier asked, a clipboard at his side. The Commander was seated at his desk and didn't respond for a long while, seemingly lost in thought. "Sir?"

"Have Brandt continue until she's completed healed and then we'll go from there. Relay this information to Squad Leader Hange and Captains Ines and Levi. You are dismissed."

"Sir!" The man saluted and closed the door behind him as he left. As soon as he knew he was alone Commander Erwin ran his fingers through his hair and looked at a stack of documents on his desk. Given the potential inaccuracy of the data they've managed to collect on the Speaking-Type Titan's past, they were going to have to fill in the blanks with her cooperation and then, he'd get his answers. If he had to keep her alive against her will and that of the people's will, he would do so without hesitation.


	19. Resolutions

**X|X.****Resolutions**

"Pastor Nick... has been murdered?" Captain Ines asked Squad Leader Hange as they sat in the new cabin Captain Levi and his squad were going to be hold up in, stare focused on the single tabletop candle lighting the otherwise pitch black room. An insignificant warmth. "Does that mean the operation is postponed even further? The Speaking-Type is still recovering, which made our only other two sources of information Pastor Nick and Mina Carolina. Now, we only have one and she's in no position to be questioned further."

"Those bastards." Hange's overcoat showed visible signs of being torn at and she sighed shakily, putting a hand on the table. "They tortured him like a criminal when he'd done nothing wrong! And now," she turned her attention to the shadows, "he's gone and there's nothing we can do about it. Our only direct connection to the Titan-Worshipers is gone..."

"Are you going to inform the others? They have an obligation to know, especially the Reiss daughter."

"Of course I will, first thing tomorrow, but right now I... I'm not confident enough to continue the operation. There's something weighing down heavily on my mind that I just can't place."

Her face was pale and unnerving, Ines never having seen the woman so shaken up before. "You need to get rest. I'll inform them tomorrow in your stead—"

"No! I have to be the one to do it... _please..._" Hange turned to her, wiping behind her squared-shaped glasses. "Ah, I'm sorry, it's just... allow me to do it, because I want to. Instead, I want _you_to inform Commander Erwin for me, and while you're at it, spread the word through the ranks of the Scouting Legion to be wary of their actions. I'll have to come up with a way for Captain Levi and the others to meet up here without drawing suspicion. They're watching us, the Military Police."

"Was anyone there besides...?"

"Nick, you mean?" Hange nodded and stared at her fingernails. "There were three others altogether. Molbit was with me, that's one. The other two were, I'm certain now, members of the Military Police Interior Squad."

Ines's voice took an even colder turn than her eyes, "Their names?"

Hange took note the murderous aura surrounding her friend's body and rubbed her wrist. "I'm not sure on their names at the time being. If I search the records later I'll have them."

Ines stood, went to the door, and upon reaching it, a light rain outside breaking the momentary silence that followed, she said, "When you do, give them to me."

A bead of sweat rolling down her forehead, Hange shivered. The temperature had dropped slightly, and she hoped it was because of the rain.

**—-—-—**

Annie took a moment to reminisce as she stared at the foliage growing up the sides of the well outside Achi's second home. Eliza was in the middle of her interrogation by Captain Levi, who didn't care if she hadn't fully recovered or not. She was a Titan-Shifter, she could handle it. Not matter how many beatings she took she wasn't to break, she wasn't to give in so easily.

"Did she tell you anything about her past?" she asked as she ran a hand on the well's stone surface and now looked over the edge into the darkness, no more water to be found.

Fritz shook his head, "No, why?"

"I've been thinking about what her purpose is and I now believe it was to warn us of some impending danger. The King is connected to it, I think. Eren as well, or, that ability of his is..."

"I thought she wasn't really after them? Are you saying there's going to be another attack?"

"Not by her, no, but when we go back out to reclaim what's hidden in that basement of Eren's. Stronger enemies, an even more likely chance that nobody will make it back alive. But, it's not only that, there's also what happened a few days with that pastor. By her turning on us so suddenly and attacking in the heart of humanity's stronghold, she's basically saying to 'always watch your backs'. Betrayal runs deep." Annie scraped the stone and peeled off some grime. "As do the scars that they leave behind. The mistrust."

"I'll never let anyone move against you," Fritz stated. "You know that by now. If they see you as a threat, then they'll just have to consider me one as well!"

Annie looked at him with one eye. "They already do. Your ability to heal others' wounds is still unknown and they don't know where it comes from. There's no mistake that it's a Titan ability like Eren's. If he's the Coordinate, then you must be... the Healer..."

"Did you... just make that up?" His mouth twitched into a grin.

A slight blush as she turned back to the well. "You have another name for it then?"

"Alright, I get it. Don't get angry." He laughed and came so close she could feel his hot breath on her neck. "You've never been open with jokes before."

"It wasn't a joke, you have some gift that nobody else has and it—!" He grabbed her forearm and spun her around. She punched him in the gut and he recoiled. "Don't do things so suddenly..." As he bent down and heaved, she put a hand on the spot she hit and cradled his head on her shoulder. It was one of the only ways she could get him to her height and punish him at the same time. Efficient, surely. "_Stupid bastard._" She looked back to the well and again thought of her promise. Fritz was, truly, the fourth person in her life she cared deeply about and she wasn't going to lose him like the others.

**—-—-—**

Historia sat outside on the grass, looking out to the trees and fields as far as her eye could see. She thought of Ymir, a sack lying nearby packed with essentials and the necessities for survival alone. She knew someone was watching her, anticipating what she was going to do next. Though, she wasn't. She wasn't going to leave everything behind and search for Ymir on her own. She'd need the combined help of others who were willing and able. And, she knew exactly who to put her trust in.

Days before, she'd spoken of her past to the others and hoped; no, she knew, that most of them would understand her reasons for leaving, if nothing else. Acceptance really was hard to come by in the world, wasn't it?

_If only you hadn't been born._

And yet here she still was, years later, living under her true name and not a moniker nor a false identity. That is her sincere wish. Wet blades of grass sticking to her palms, she wiped them on the front of her dress. She didn't care now what others thought of her. She's living for herself and that's all that matters now. Gazing up at the pale sky, her thoughts went to the girl who'd taught her this, and, yes, she was going to bring her back to them even if she had to navigate through hell itself and smiled warmly.

_Your name is Historia Reiss, a flame blazing in the night._

**—-—-—**

Eliza sat on her knees, hands bound behind her back in the center of the Scouting Legion's most central courtyard so that all eyes were cast in her direction. Whispers, taunts, threats, cries. They were all around her as she keep her head raised, right eye covered in a still damp cloth bandage, blood trickling down her cheek as it still managed to escape beneath the uplifting folds. Drops fell onto her uniform, striped of any identifiable rank and division, signifying her loyalty to no one.

She scanned the gathering crowd for that naïve girl. Perhaps that promising boy, and then, she stopped, seeing a haunt that shouldn't have affected her the way it had. That auburn hair, that small stature, that cynical yet longing gaze. The hazel eyes of a ghost that shouldn't exist anymore. A phantom. The undying phantom of her sins. Her mouth forming the words _"I died for your mistakes"._

Next to her, there he was. That boy from long ago. Only, he was no longer a boy, but a middle aged man. No longer sporting that stupid bowlcut, no longer looking as if he were about to cry every other minute, a stern face of determine. Only, his head was under one arm, as there was nothing atop his head, blood gushing down in streams onto his body, soaking into his clothes. On his lips, she could read the words "_I lived for your dreams_". Both wore the standard military uniform, each distinguishable to their time and era. Seventy years ago to now.

Burying her sins and dreams into the pit that was now her heart, she looked back at the current Commander of the Scouting Legion, Erwin Smith. With his form standing before her, the sensations of her true surroundings came back. The first thing she noticed was the silence, then the blackness of tiny cell, underground and far below the courtyard she'd been thinking about all this time. That's right — she'd been under interrogation the whole time. Before her, the Commander snapped his fingers to gather her attention and she looked to him again, her expression blank. He stared back, choosing his words thoughtfully before he finally spoke.

"Speaking-Type Titan. I request that you divulge everything you can remember of anything that would be of use to the survival of the human race." His right sleeve, empty of its appendage, hung lazily at his side. She saw his eyes move to it briefly before focusing back on her. "Everything."

She smiled faintly and licked her dry lips as she breathed in hot air and suppressed a sudden urge to smirk knowingly. "How's the arm?" she asked spitefully. "Can't relieve yourself anymore, can't you? Or, no, wait, isn't that the other—!" Her head snapped the side as she was slapped hard by Captain Levi and she spat more blood and grinned. "Don't be so rough." Her eyes locked with the Captain's, wanting to claw this new midget's face off, dig down into his skull, and rip all that he was away from him. Then, she felt pings of sadness. _The midget..._

"Levi, enough. You've done _more_than enough, in truth, already." The Commander held up his hand and Levi went back to leaning against the wall, crossing his arms and still keeping his eyes on her. "Now, back to what I wanted to know..."

"Do you want it back?"

"What?"

"That arm, do you want it back?" Eliza's grin became wider as she saw the desire in his steel blue eyes. "I can give it back to you."

**—-—-—**

"Historia, we don't even know where she could be!" Fritz exclaimed as loud as he dared outside the surface entrance to Eliza's prison that Annie had earlier found out about. Another thing to admire, her talent for gathering information. She had her eyes on Historia as the other girl waved a hand at the entrance.

"That's exactly why I'm going to you guys for help!" Historia argued back, filled with a new hope that made that long bout of deadness after Eliza's capture seem like temporary illness. "With Eliza's help, the four of us can find her easily and in enough time to get back without raising any major suspicions!"

Annie cut in swiftly, "You forget that any indication of her missing and they'll not rest until she's found. Whether she escapes of her own violation or with help, she'll be hunted like a dog until all the secrets she holds are spilled, then they'll spill her blood because she'll be of no use to them anymore. Freeing her would also make us a part of her pack to be hunted. They may not us kill outright, but any further action on our parts will be severely monitored and restricted more than it already is."

"I didn't forget that! I know we'll be practically wanted criminals if we do this — I-I mean you two still are, technically — b-but that doesn't matter and I don't care if I become one too! I have to get her back and don't you feel the same?!"

"No."

"Fritz?!"

Fritz rubbed his neck and turned to the entrance, "Well..."

"You guys!"

"If we do this and somehow we manage to bring her back, what are we going to do about Reiner and Bertolt? Plus, once everyone finds out that Ymir is back, what are they going to do with her? You, _we_, can't hide her forever."

"I've already got that figured out too! So come on! This is one of the best chances we have, if we waste it...!"

Annie sighed as moved her hair from her eyes. She hadn't the time to put it in a bun. "And, if we help you, what will we get in return?"

"A chance to go back." Fritz spoke for her. "If we help, you'll have a chance to keep that promise to your father. We may not have enough time to find what you're looking for, but it's still a chance. I'd be right there with you either way." He parted some strands she missed.

She didn't recoil from his touch, but slapped his hand away anyway and focused back on Historia, flustered, and quickly said, "T-There may be a chance that some of us, or even all of us, won't make it back."

"I'm aware of that, Annie! I won't be doing this if I wasn't!"

"Then, let's get her out there..." Annie replied quietly as she moved towards the entrance. She rested her hand on the handle of the door and gently eased it inward. Historia hurried after her as Fritz took up the rear. Annie could smell her. A distinguishable smell that thirsted for blood and bit back sadness at the same time. A reluctant soul. She could also hear water dripping the deeper she went, knowing they were getting further and further from the surface because of it. The temperature was also dropping. "I don't know what we'll encounter once we get down there, but I wouldn't be surprised if this were all a trap," she commented in a whisper as she hugged the wall as soon as she heard chains rattling. Then, the sound of a deep chuckle.

"I was wondering when you were going to get here." It was Eliza, her real accent clearly heard as she now had no reason to hide it anymore. "By the sounds... three of you? There's no guards near me, so hurry up and get me out of these binds." More rattling.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Historia spoke up. She knew to rescue Ymir they'd need her help, but still, she couldn't stop the images of Achi from assaulting her sense of reason. It was her plan to begin with... yet... "That you won't kill us the moment you get out?"

"Hah! What would I gain from useless shit like that?"

"Useless?! What about Achi you—!"

"That was never supposed to happen. I never..." Eliza's voice trailed off and she became quiet. A moment of silence elapsed.

Fritz rested a hand on Historia's shoulder and shook his head. "Leave it go. The guilt she feels is enough, yeah?"

"I know... it's just..." Historia bowed her head and hide her tears.

"Eliza! We're going to get you out, and once we do, we'll tell you all about why!"

"If that girl's here, then I have a pretty clear idea already! But that doesn't matter right now! Just get here and unbind me!"

Fritz nodded to Annie, who nodded back and slowly went forward to the door Eliza was captive behind. She felt all along the door for a handle, found none, and thus just kicked it open to reveal Eliza on her knees, dirty and damaged. She quickly undid the bindings and helped her to her feet. Her right eye was a bloody hole, closed shut. A streak of blood had dried on her cheek from the wound.

**—-—-—**

Ines noticed shadows creeping out of Headquarters, Levi standing beside her. "Should we really let them go?"

"For now, we can't alert anyone." Levi answered as he glanced back at the Commander, who was staring absentmindedly at his stump. "In the morning, as early as possible, we send someone out to follow them. Only two. It can't be you or I. I already have someone in mind. You?"

"I do."

"Then first thing next light we send them out, make sure to tell them." Done talking, Levi couldn't help but glance back to the Commander again as Ines turned on her heel and left the room, presumably going to do as ordered.

Captain Ines stalked through the shadowy hall of the Scouting Legion Headquarters and stopped abruptly when she came upon Riecka's room, the door cracked slightly. She opened it wide to find her second in command fully awake, sharping one of her blades.

"What is it?"

"Are you free tomorrow?"

"Gonna hook me up with a hot date, Captain?"

"Something like that."

**—-—-—**

Cool, lukewarm water. It felt great on her skin as she scrubbed her body clean, washing off all the grime and blood. She flicked her hair, now long and reaching down to her back. She shouted to the thick brush above the outcropping of rock that held the shallow pool she was bathing in to ask how much time she had left and Historia answered back, telling her however long it took for her to wash the last of the blood away. She flashed her teeth again, this time out of admiration.

That Levi — he'd really done a number on her. Cracked and broken bones, bruises in uncomfortable places, her right eye. Yes, she'd make his death a thousand more times painful if they ever crossed paths again. As suddenly as her bloodlust came to her she clutched the side of her head and bit down on her lower lip.

_No_, she wasn't going to give into the urges again. She'd already paid the price with Achi's death. She couldn't needlessly kill anymore people. A monster. _A demon_. That's what she was and she couldn't dispel that side of her, only suppress it the best she could as she lifted a cupped handful of water to her face, looking at her own reflection, thinking of Ymir.

She slicked back her hair and shook any excess water out. Staring at the pool of water now, she could see her former master's mischievous face, laughing at her from the depths of the Void. That bitch, she hadn't died back then, she was sure of it now. Friedrich's healing abilities, Annie's crystallization abilities, those two stupid boys with Ymir, that Ape-Titan— they were all proof of this.

She dug her nails into the white scar on her chest, barely noticeable unless one concentrated on the exact spot. A memento from her time as a servant, but she didn't want to believe she was ever that bitch's lapdog. Not anymore. Nor was she Ymir's subordinate or the King's scapegoat. More shouting from above, telling her to hurry up despite being recently told to take all the time she needed.

Perhaps, she'd gained something in all her years worth. Yet, at the back of her mind, she knew that those gains were a source of her pain and swallowed hard, burying her memories again like she always did when she felt them coming back. No, it wasn't going to be like last time, she knew it in her heart and thus, smiled again.

_This time..._


	20. Betrayers

******XX. Betrayers**

_"In exchange for this girl, I will give this to you," the woman said, her dark red hair like streaks of blood resting on her shoulders,__as she presented __a trinket wrapped in fine cloth. "And with this gift, you won't have to live in fear anymore." Sharp, perfectly formed teeth as she smiled. "What do you say?"_

_The leader accepted the gift, stepped back, and nodded for the child to be given to the woman post haste. Her mother cried out in protest and everyone's heads bowed. Giving up this child was the only way they could survive for further generations, they all knew this. Yet, for the mother,__she had to watch as the woman took her only daughter in her arms and smiled, handing her to the young girl at her side. The young girl's expression was blank, as if she'd never seen a baby before._

_"I hope that you and your kin are able to join the rest of humanity within the Walls." The woman's voice was considerate and understanding. She knelt down to the mother, cupping a hand under her chin. "You're doing a very brave thing, my dear. Your child, this girl, she will be something great. She will be loved and cared for. You have my word on that."_

_The mother's eyes were still watery with tears as she nodded, "Do you swear on your life?"_

_The red haired woman's eyes flashed with an unnoticeable mischievous glint. "I swear upon all the gods and goddesses in heaven." And the mother smiled back, content._

_The woman righted her bearskin tunic,__necklace swaying, clinking together. She turned to the young girl and told her to hold the child tight, then gave one last smile to the mother, the leader, and their kin as she and the girl disappeared as quickly as they had come._

_Immediately after her departure, the leader sent a messenger to the Walls to ask for admission to live within, when the gift the woman had given them started resonating a call. Similar to a low humming, they dismissed it as nothing and went about their daily lives. When the messenger finally came back from his days' journey with news of their acceptance, he found the village to be empty. As he walked through it, finding some of the makeshift huts crushed underfoot, he felt the humming in his mind. It took over his senses and he collapsed, convulsing on the ground as he'd just made it to the leader's tent. _

_Still intact, he struggled to see if anyone was inside. A garbled voice that sounded like the leader's and he craned his neck to see what it was, all the muscles in his body shutting down. Even if he couldn't move and act, he could still tell the leader of his success. There was no yell in surprise when he was taken in the shaky hand of a Titan, his last thoughts that it closely resembled the leader. And, in his last moment, he was able to make sense of its garbled speech._

_"Have we been accepted?"_

Ymir lay on her back, hands resting on her stomach, thinking of Historia. She'd saved those two back then, leading them to the only place she could think of in those few moments. Shinganshina — or, what was left of it. Ruins. They'd asked why she would help them and she'd responded with _"because she was the only one who understood what they were going through"_, hoping that they would then leave her alone — and, they had. That had been a few days ago.

She was sure that Historia was out looking for her by now. Especially if Skrymir was helping them. And, thus, she wondered what to say once they came to her. What to do with Reiner and Bertolt, who were both busy salvaging for food and supplies to last them another day. She turned her cheek to the current stock they had now — it wouldn't last them through the night — and blinked.

She did understand them, the more she thought of it. Their fear, their confusion. The feeling that they would never go back to their village, their homeland. Understood their want to be accepted by everyone else. Even after revealing their Titan Shifting abilities and themselves as the two responsible for destroying Wall Maria, killing thousands indirectly. All those lives were on their hands and they couldn't wash it away. It forever stained them, just as her own stained hers.

**—-—-—**

Fritz held his glowing hands aloft behind Eliza, providing enough light for the group to avoid tripping over every uproot and rock in the path there were taking. Earlier, Eliza had told them she knew where Ymir could potentially be and without any hesitance Historia had rushed off in the direction of Shinganshina, but in her haste gotten lost and they'd wasted precious time trying to find her as the result, Eliza telling her harshly to never let her emotions get the better of her clear judgment, or a worst fate than getting lost could befall her. That's when she'd taken up the lead with Annie at the rear, watching for any dangers that may be stalking them. Historia was walking in front of him with a crestfallen face, head bowed, feet shuffling along.

"Historia, hey, Eli's only looking out for you. She doesn't want you to get hurt."

"No, that's not what's bothering me. It's—"

"We're almost near the first gate. There are no Titans here anymore, we should be safe, but just in case be on your guard." Eliza said over her shoulder.

"Hear that? We're close! What's wrong?"

"Reiner and Bertolt. What'll we do if they're with her?" She looked back at Annie, who'd been listening the whole time.

"If worst comes to worst, we kill them." Annie said bluntly, then, "But if we can prevent it, we will. Turning them to our side would give us an advantage and killing them would be an obvious disadvantage. And also... I..." She didn't say anymore as she went back to watching the rear.

"If we can, we'll save them." Eliza answered from the front. "But if they pose any immediate threat, you may not be willing to dispose of them, but make no mistake that I will. Without hesitation."

"And the basement. Eren's basement! It's here, in Shinganshina!" Historia exclaimed. "If we have the chance—!"

"I wouldn't." Annie interrupted. "Chances are the three of them are barely beyond the first gate. Eren's basement is deep in Shinganshina — we won't reach it before morning. Even after. There's bound to be Titans further in, there's no doubt in my mind about that."

"Alright, Blondie, we get Freckles and go? Everyone in agreement?" The three of them nodded as one with Historia muttering something about her new nickname.

Eliza's enthusiasm came back, and once they cleared the path, she shot straight for the entrance. Her right eye itched. It was still closed. Still useless.

During their escape Fritz didn't have enough time to quicken the regeneration process and her own ability was very slow going. Covered in a makeshift cloth patch from his uniform, she'd smelled something familiar from it, but had decided it wasn't of significant importance, and left it be. Yet… the more she thought on it…

"Friedrich."

"What is it, Eli?"

"You need to bathe more."

"What?! I always do!"

"He smells fine to me," Historia said. "What do you think, Annie?"

"I'd rather not comment."

"Wait, what made you bring up how I smell in the first place?!"

She pointed at the patch. "Maybe you just need new clothes…"

"Can you just… keep walking…?"

She shrugged and turned back to the front without another word. Yes, she knew this smell. Mixed in with his sweat, was Sharle's. Where had Friedrich gotten her essence from? Sharle was long dead, and so was that Titan brat— _could they have passed it down through the generations?_ No, through other means, but… _what…?_ She buried her musings for another time as they came to the first gate, torn asunder from the Armored-Type Titan's charge five years prior.

"Sure is a big hole, huh?" she commented, walking through it.

She got no replies back.

**—-—-—**

Ymir sat up, hearing the sounds of boots on stone, and hid behind a giant rock. A corpse, partially decomposed into a skeleton, was crushed underneath and she snapped off its brittle bony forearm and threw it in the direction of the sounds, hearing a _thunk_ as it hit someone on the head and then grinned as he cried out in surprise. Historia was finally here. She came out from behind the rock and leaned against it, seeing two familiar faces.

"Ay! Freckles, don't go throwing shit at us like that! Friedrich can only take so much abuse!"

"Shut up!"

"Ymir!" Historia ran forward from the other side of the ruined building and came into view. "We're here to bring you back!"

Annie came up behind her and looked around. "Where are Reiner and Bertolt?"

Ymir thumbed in the direction of the second gate, "Over there someplace. They went to go check something out after they finished salvaging whatever they could find here." She trained her eyes on Eliza with a slight frown. "Didn't succeed?"

"There's always a next time, but it doesn't have to come anytime soon."

"Or ever." Fritz added and Ymir chuckled.

"That so?" She took a head count and tilted her head for those familiar auburn twin-tails. "Was Achi too lazy to get her ass out here? Rather stay and take a nap than come find me?" Her smirk disappeared when she saw all their faces darken, the atmosphere taking the same turn. She glared dead-on into Eliza's downcast eyes. "It was _you_, wasn't it?! You reckless bitch! I told you—!" She grabbed her and drew her to eye level, forehead to forehead. "I remember you being better than that! I—! No, forget I said anything," she pushed the other girl away and turned to the giant rock and kicked it repeatedly, cursing at anything she could in her few second outburst of emotion. When she finally calmed down, she sighed and rested her hands on it. "How many else have died since I've been gone? What's been happening? Tell me everything and don't any of you fucking _dare _leave even the tiniest detail out."

"Ymir..."

"Start talking!"

"We don't have time for this, Ymir. I'm going to get Reiner and Bertolt. Historia and Eliza should be more than enough to tell you everything while I'm doing that. Fritz," Annie looked at him for second then went back to looking in the direction of the second gate, "you're coming with me. If they've encountered any Titans, despite their aptitudes, they're bound to have a few injuries. They wouldn't have transformed. None of us that can Shift would be dumb enough to do it here, in the heart of Titan territory."

"When you get back, I'm still going to make the two of you talk..."

"I wouldn't have it any other way..." Annie replied, the first slim rays of dawn peeking downward.

**—-—-—**

"Do you think they're in far?" Fritz asked as he walked beside her. The air further in more ashen, their mouths covered by cloth to compensate.

"I'd like to think they aren't, but if they were desperate in finding food it's likely. Either way, don't peel your eyes from the shadows."

"Wolves?"

Annie gave him a side glance, "Those, or anything else that may have wandered in. Titans don't attack animals, and if any animals managed to find a renewable food source, they're bound to still be here."

"We have no weapons to fight them off if they do attack us, if there are any to begin with, so when we run you stay in front of me."

"Meaning?"

"We'll be running away from them, so that means the one in front is less likely to be taken down first..."

"And...?"

Fritz shrugged, "And I don't want you to be attacked first. I mean, I don't want to be attacked either, but I can't let you get hurt... Annie... Annie? Hey, don't walk away!" He had to jog to catch up with her, a smile on his face in knowing that he'd pushed her buttons. She really was cute in her own stubborn way. From his peeks into her memory, her father had showed up only once. The same hair color and the same eyes, that's all that he remembered of the memory which wasn't his own, and yet, he had a feeling that she and her father were more alike than in just their physical appearances alone. "Say, Annie—"

Annie held up a hand to stop and be silent. Be still. She pointed at a building up ahead, still relatively intact and without any clear visible signs of damage. She'd noticed movement in the uppermost window — a muscular shadow of a man. At first, she'd expected it to be Reiner, but just now when the shadow had passed the window, revealing the man to the light, she saw that whoever it was had black hair — and Reiner didn't have black hair. It wasn't Bertolt, for he was leaner than what this man appeared to be, and, yes, she could have sworn that the man had noticed them as well. Backpedaling now, she pushed Fritz behind the corner of an alley and waited a beat, then peered around. The man was gone.

"What is it?" Fritz whispered into her ear, too close for her comfort and she elbowed him gently.

"I saw someone in that upper window, but it wasn't Reiner or Bertolt. I think he saw us."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." She glanced quickly to the other side of the street. "Over there, we'll go around that house and keep searching. If I see that man again, I'll stop us again. If you see him, know that he has a muscular build with black hair."

"Black hair... ah! There he is!" Fritz pointed at a figure above them on a rooftop. The man was there, hands at his sides. Upon a closer look, he was rather pale and had a ferocious look in his eyes. No, his eyes, they didn't look... human. Just then the man flashed his teeth, sharp and pointed, like that of a canine's. Pulling Annie away from the corner, Fritz slowly made his way backwards. "Annie, we have to leave." She nodded in agreement.

"I'm getting that sensation too, like he's waiting for us to make a mistake and then he'll strike. Guarding... he's guarding the way to the second gate..."

"We'll just have to come back for Reiner and Bertolt."

"You're right..."

They slowly and carefully backtracked to where the others were, surprised that they had picked up four extra people. Two of them were Reiner and Bertolt, the other two being Captain Ines's second in command and... Sasha?

"Took you two long enough," Riecka remarked, "and these two came back shortly after you'd left — something about a strange man. Oh, and by the way, me and Sasha here are escorting you all back." Eliza looked extremely ticked off. "Is there something wrong?"

"That man..." Eliza started to say, but after a moment she became silent, staring at the ground.

"I can feel the presence of something... large..." Sasha's eyes became wide and her head snapped in the direction of Annie and Fritz. "G-guys! Get over here quick! Whatever it is, it's coming!" Heeding her warning, Annie and Fritz ran behind Riecka, who drew her blade from their metal sheathes and stared out into the early light of the morning.

"Stay behind me. _Sasha_!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Take them back to Headquarters! Don't stop until you've made it there!"

"Roger!" Sasha saluted and grabbed Fritz's arm, pulling and leading the others away.

Riecka waited until they disappeared and turned back to the threat before her and cursed. It wasn't a large wolf, but an even larger hound. Something that shouldn't even exist, and in her awe it sat down on its haunches and looked her in the eye. Yet, what was the existence of a large hound to her? Nothing. Hounds could still be killed just like any other animal, and she crossed her blades in a defensive stance. They could be put down just like a Titan, and she grinned, she didn't have to worry about regeneration or only having to slice the nape of the neck. Now, if only...

"Put down your weapons," the hound spoke in a deep and ancient voice, "I do not wish to fight here, I've only come bearing a message."

In her disbelief, Riecka took a step back.

The hound sighed; a throaty sound that made it seem all the more human, "I am not... a hound... I've come to deliver a message and nothing more." The hound that stated it wasn't said again, "Tell the Betrayers that the Lady Hela is waiting for them. That the Lady will always be there, watching them. And, to tell your superiors that what you seek further is never going to be yours. It is, by right, hers." With that, the giant hound disappeared back into the shadows as quickly as it had appeared.

Riecka let escape the air she'd been holding in her lungs and hastily made her exit back in the direction of Headquarters to inform Captain Ines of this newest development. And, from there, the Captain was to decide what next course of action to take along with Hange and the rest. This... this giant talking hound... it was unnerving and strange and she couldn't shake the feeling of death no matter how much she wanted to.

**—-—-—**

Commander Erwin leaned forward in his seat and fixed his eyes on the dark brown haired girl across the table. Her arms were crossed and she was pretending to stare out the window, as if the earlier day's events were trivial matters not worth discussing. He wasted no time and began.

"Overlooking your escape from confinement and your group's foray into the Shinganshina District without permission, we need to know anything about that creature you all encountered. Riecka said it appeared to be a giant talking hound and it was very... to the point..." No response. His eyes went to Captains Levi and Ines, then in Hange's direction and she nodded, proceeding to slam her hands on the table.

"Listen, humanity is at the end of its ropes here and if we don't get all the information we can about the threats we're—"

"What are you going to do with those two?" Eliza abruptly asked, eyes on Reiner and Bertolt chained in the courtyard to wooden poles. "You're not going to execute them, are you? That'd put us at a disadvantage. Less Titan-Shifters we have, the more chance we all die when we assault that kid's basement."

"We've already devised something for that and it's none of your concern. All you need to focus on now is telling us everything you know about that hound. Anything else would also be of a great help and importance to us." Commander Erwin said as he pushed a paper towards her. "Read this, it's Riecka's report of last night. If anything in there is incorrect, tell us here and now."

Eliza's eyes flickered to the paper, skimmed it, elbow pushing it away a few seconds later. "No, you tell me what you're going to do with those two first, and, not only them, but the rest of us. Ymir, me, Annie, Historia, and Friedrich. Are we cleared or aren't we? Once you tell me that, I'll reveal what I want to tell you."

Another glance to Hange, then, "We're bringing them along with us on account of their extra strength. Armin Arlert has already came up with the plan to plug the holes they'd made in the gates five years ago and get to the basement, and, after hearing it directly from him, they agreed to help. In short — no, they won't be executed."

"For now..." Eliza added, but the Commander was silent. She looked at him. "Alright, if that's all you're gonna give me, then I'll give you something. Do you know anything about the world before it became infested with these shits?"

"You mean the Titans?"

Eliza nodded. "They're the result of some amusement of my former master. A bitch with no heart and no soul. She's also the one who this giant hound of yours belongs to."

Hange leaned across the table, her eyes wide. "A-are you saying that this former master of yours _orchestrated _the downfall of humanity for her own _amusement_?"

"I wouldn't know, it just seemed that way to me. She always appeared to be your friend as she told you to kill without remorse. Devour without remorse. I was..." Eliza stopped and cleared her throat and stared out the window again. "Her direct subordinate before Ymir... and after... I was young then... hell... I still am..."

"What else can you tell us about this former master of yours? What about this giant hound of hers?"

"If you want to know more you'll just have to torture me again, _Commander_, or you can try to convince Mina or Ymir to talk again."

As he and Hange talked among themselves, Eliza thought of everything she's done up until this point, satisfied. She thought of Achi, of Heath, and of Ymir. Of Fritz, Annie, Historia, Mina. Of Solm, Mieke, Carlo, and the other ones — Sharle and that Titan brat. Not to mention, that one stubborn blacksmith...

She wondered where this road to freedom from the Titans would take them after this; where it's already taken some of them. As the Commander was about to take his leave, she spoke up again.

"The offer is still open, you know. I can still do it for you."

Without looking back or slowing his pace, Commander Erwin responded. "I've already made my decision and it's final. We're moving out in a few hours, make sure you're ready."

Smiling faintly, she continued to stare out the window as the door closed shut. Perhaps they might just achieve it after all.

_Freedom…_


	21. What Lies In Ruins

**XX|. What Lies In Ruins**

Mikasa looked down at the formation heading through the first gate, Eren and the others next in formation. She, Jean, Connie, and one of Captain Ines's Special Investigations Squad, Zena, were tasked with watching them from above and she jumped clear of the roof to the Wall, her wires running parallel to the others as they all ran up to the top.

On horizontal ground once again, she peered down the other side to see the numbers trickling in slowly. She wasn't the least bit apprehensive or scared. To her, this place would always be a comfort and nothing, not even death, was going to take that away and she took out one of her blades, its steel shining in the early morning sun, then crouched near the Wall's edge and took it all in. The ruins of her home.

"Anything further out, Mikasa?" Jean grunted as he moved a barricade out of his way to get a better look at the District himself.

"No, everything's clear over here," she replied as she straightened again and stuck a hand out. The air had suddenly got colder, which shouldn't have been the case, unless the planning team's calculations were wrong. They didn't know what caused a Titan's crystallization; only that it had to do with increasing their body's temperature to dangerous levels until they either burned away or started to cool down by hardening their skin, or, that's how the theory went, anyway. If the air was getting colder, then that meant the plan would take longer to implement.

"The formation is all the way through, keep at it you three," Zena said. The sun was starting to come up and she looked down at a pocket watch. "It's only been a few hours since we left Headquarters, so then why..."

"The nights are getting shorter?" Connie guessed, but Zena shook her head, goggles secured above her head reflecting the light.

"No, it's almost as if it's only confined to this area."

"Then are you saying something is _controlling _the time of day here?" Jean asked.

Mikasa felt the air grow even colder than before and knew now that it wasn't because of the time of day. "It doesn't matter right now, all that we need to be focusing on is Eren's and Fritz's safety."

"Mikasa's right," Zena agreed as she put the pocket watch away, "let's get going you three."

**—-—-—**

"This is a trap." Ines stated a matter-of-factually. Intact houses, no Titans. Barely any signs that it'd been overrun except for overgrown grass at their horses' feet and the occasional patch of ruins. She shook her head. "I don't think sending the entire remainder of the Legion was—"

"It is necessary. If the Titans surround us the further in we get, we'll need the numbers to stall them as Eren and his group make their way to the basement unhindered. The sacrifices will be necessary."

"I realize that, but with this many people it'll be too unorganized in this small space, unlike in the other areas where it was open."

"I'm aware of that, Ines."

"Erwin's reasoning is as long as they find what's in that basement and secure it, it doesn't matter the number that perish. You share the same sentiments, Ines." Captain Levi added as he glanced in her direction and narrowed his eyes. "The mission succeeds as long as that happens and Eren isn't killed. Everyone else, including us, are expendable."

Hange put a hand on hers. "The number of casualties will be less than previous encounters because we know more than we ever did before."

"And I'll personally make sure of that if I have to," Levi added again, looking at all the faces, both familiar and not, around them.

"Regardless of the number of casualties, as long as we get there, we're continuing. Even if I or one of you were to die. It doesn't matter. We advance, we continue. No questions or hesitation allowed. For the sake of the human race."

"Don't preach at us now, Erwin. Shit, now isn't the time."

**—-—-—**

Eliza leaned to the side. "Ymir, you remember anything significant? Now that your memory is coming back..."

"You nearly killed me. Twice in the same day."

Eliza laughed and kicked the side of her horse gently. "I couldn't contain it back then, what can I say?" She shrugged.

Bertolt pushed his way up to the front and waved to the two of them to get their attentions. "And what do you mean by that?" he asked.

Ymir looked at him from the corner of her eye. "She'll tell you, she loves telling useless stories from the past..." Bertolt and Reiner stared between each other and Ymir shook her head. "It isn't even important anymore, so why the fuck are you two even asking?" she then said. "Shouldn't the two of you be more worried about what they're going to do to you if this expedition succeeds? You really think you'd be free to come and go as you please?"

Reiner glared at her, "No, we were offered a deal. Our help for theirs. After this expedition's success is our home village and I'd rather go there with the whole Legion behind me than with nothing. Less chance of dying..."

"If the mission succeeds..." Bertolt added as he looked at his reins. "... and what if it doesn't? We'll be executed..."

Reiner turned to him, "We'd be executed if we went back empty handed, so there isn't much difference." He went back to Ymir. "There's your answer. Satisfied?"

Ymir just let out a grunt. "Yeah... I wonder how the others are doing…" She was looking straight at Historia and her group, frowning that Achi wasn't a part of it.

"They'll be fine, Freckles."

"Quit calling me that."

"Did you know I can the shorty Blondie?"

Ymir raised an eyebrow, the scars directly beneath her eyes from her transformation three weeks prior stretching slightly. "Which one?"

"Kristy..."

"_Historia_."

"Whatever. What do you think of it?"

"Quit calling her it... your nicknames suck ass..."

**—-—-—**

"How tall was this wolf when you saw it?" Eren asked, his eyes going to Sasha briefly, who was staring at the grass around them that grew through the cracks and crevices of the once paved main road that led further into Shinganshina.

"Around 173 centimeters... Fur as black as can be, with little splotches of white, or maybe a really _really _pale brown. Giant teeth." She opened her mouth wide and chomped down comically, pointing in a circular motion at her jaws. "Really big jaws. A... harsh voice that sounded very unnatural coming from a hound."

"It was a hound, not a wolf?"

Sasha nodded, "Yeah, a hound. But it strongly resembled a wolf, which I've never seen before..."

"Until now," Jayce added. Directly behind him, Eletta pointed towards the sky where the sun was swiftly in the clouds as daylight came with it.

"The s-sun is..."

"This means we can't do the plan I devised days earlier." Armin said. "There was also the possibility, now that I think about it, that the Titans here could move at night, like what happened back at Utgard. Annie," he turned to look over his shoulder, "besides the emotions you felt when you encased yourself in crystal, how you were able to crystallize only certain parts of your body?"

"The same way I'd transform into a Titan. I focus on a specific part I want protected and it forms over. Why Armin, what are you thinking?"

Armin looked over to Eren and Fritz and nodded. "I'm thinking that this plan of mine can still work."

Ahead of him, Historia was lost in thought as she remembered her past and more of her time with Ymir and Achi. The way the two of them would always mock others or tell them their faults and belittle them, her own attempts to lessen that behavior. The two of them had meant to be encouraging and thoughtful with their words, only they expressed it with negativity. Usually. _Why was she thinking of this now, of all the times_?

_I'd wish you'd never been born. If only I had the courage to kill you myself_.

Her mother. Was that it? Her mother?

Once, during training, the three of them had talked about their families and it'd been a quiet time which was really unusual now that she thought about it. Only she and Achi had shared tidbits about their relatives while Ymir had shared none. Achi's father had been the one to raise her solely, always telling her advice about how to survive in the world and what to do when the going got tough. He had died when she was nine during the breach of Wall Maria five years ago. She'd never seen her own mother, but Achi had been positive she was still alive. Without any words between them, Historia had heard her promise to find her mother if she ever went back to her village.

Now, it felt as if that promise was entrusted to her, Annie, Fritz, and Ymir. Silently. A promise. Gripping her reins tighter, she wanted to keep that promise and help her friend. Even if she was no longer with them.

**—-—-—**

The formation was now closer to Eren's home. All around them, there was nothing, as if someone had blown away everything in the area, only leaving the foundations and debris. Directly in front of them were the steps leading the basement, as if inviting them. The house was gone like everyone else in the immediate area. Flatland.

Just then, someone shouted for everyone to scatter as a giant rock came sailing down, crushing some of the soldiers and volunteers flat, their bloody limbs flying everywhere. A person's hand hit Eletta in face and she screamed, slapping it away, startling her horse. It knocked her off in the confusion that followed and Armin helped her onto his own horse.

"Where'd that come from!?" he shouted and a ways behind Mikasa answered from atop a building.

She'd been scanning the walls when she'd seen it. _The Ape Titan._ "The far Wall, he's throwing stones!"

"Everyone, spread out as best you can!" Commander Erwin commanded as loud as he could just as ear shattering howls were heard all around them. "Don't bunch up! I want someone to take care of the Ape Titan!"

"On it!" Mikasa shouted as she was already springing forward with Jean behind her.

"I want someone to get me eyes on where those howls came from!"

"They've surrounded us! A ton of wolves!"

Hange scuffed and adjusted her glasses. "They're hounds! Not wolves!"

"Don't falter, they can go down just like anything else! Be thankful they're not Titans! I want everyone to form semicircles and protect Eren Yeager, Friedrich Brandt and their team! Move!"

"Sir!"

Doing as ordered, the formation formed a wide semicircle around them, three ranks deep, but spread out enough so the stones being thrown from above wouldn't cause many more casualties. Commander Erwin looked to where Mikasa had said the Ape Titan was and noticed it'd stopped throwing stones, now having to deal her group. As he watched briefly, it gave up and jumped from the Wall then retreated back to where it came from. It was then he realized that the Ape Titan was a _distraction._ He stood up on his horse and poised his blade into the air.

"Men, hold this position and don't stray! Continue moving at this pace towards the—"

"Sir, they're charging the lines!"

Next to him, Captain Levi made a _tsk _sound with his tongue and got higher in his saddle, his own blades out before him in an offensive posture. "And to think I thought this would be easy..." Using the hook from his 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear, he pierced one of the hounds' hides and shot forward, killing it and two others as soon as he got within striking distance.

Commander Erwin commanded for the others to follow suit. Men and women charged giant hounds, slicing at and getting clawed. Some were bitten in two. Intestines spilled out on both sides and body parts flew. He called back Zena, Connie, Jean, and Mikasa and told them to keep protecting Eren and Fritz's team. As they started off towards the basement, he then went to Ymir and ordered her to Shift as only one Shifter was needed, her form being the best one for this fight. Grudgingly obliging, Ymir transformed and leaped into the fray, impaling hounds on her claws and ripping their throats with her jaws. Next he ordered Eliza to continue watching Reiner and Bertolt and forced a tighter semicircle along with Hange and some of his advisers to watch the battle from the center most point.

Eliza looked over at the two boys and winked. "Come on, let's join the fun!" She forced her horse to ram into a hound, then proceeded to cut down her target, rolling to her feet in the midst of the fighting. Reiner and Bertolt cut down two of them on her blind-spots. She pointed a crimson tinted blade at a few targets to the side and told them to follow, as she couldn't contain her bloodlust anymore— _she didn't need to_.

She decapitated another hound at the ankles and shoved her blade into its stomach, then kicked it away as she got up again in one swift movement. To her right, Bertolt had punched one of his blades into his opponent's nose, doing it so hard that the weapon snapped off near the handle. He then took the broken blade and slashed at its face, throwing the useless remains at another hound as it yelped in surprise then whined in agony from the nick to its shoulder.

It pounced on him and Reiner came to his rescue, beheading it as Eliza shot forward via her 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear towards Ymir, who was being swarmed, and cut down two that clung to her back, kicked another to the ground and then knocked on the side of her fellow's head.

"Having a bit of trouble there?"

Ymir just let out a garble as she slashed at another assailant, bisecting it. Its blood splashed on her forearms and Eliza's uniform. She then evaded to the side and shielded Eliza from a very deadly and fast moving figure. It had taken out one of her eyes as she felt Eliza fall to the ground.

Her Gear had come loose, scattered out behind her, blades nowhere to be found as she rubbed her neck. She was going to tell Ymir to stop being sloppy when the figure came into view. Kicking her now, yelling for her to get up, a man with a very muscular build and dark hair, eyes that weren't human, pale skin, was coming closer. The fact that he was practically naked didn't faze her, but who he was did, and her hand unconsciously went to the scar on her chest.

"_Ymir_! Let me deal with this, you go back and make those two aren't getting themselves killed!" Eliza locked eyes with Garmr as he ignored the screams and howls around him. Ignoring the carnage. "Long time no see, you pampered pooch."

"I'm not..." Garmr sighed. His eyes drifted to her chest and she backed away. "I don't want to have to defeat you again, Skrymir, but I must follow the Lady's will." His hair falling in front of his eyes, he hunched down and growled. "But I _will _kill you this time if it means her plans coming one step closer than before."

"I'm not the naïve girl you threw around like last time," Eliza replied as they started to circle one another.

"I look forward to you backing that claim!" Garmr shouted as he jumped into the air and came down on her as a fully transformed monstrosity.

Commander Erwin continued to observe the battle as Hange pointed out what he'd been thinking all along.

"Where are all the Titans?" she wondered aloud as she cast a hand over the battle. "All I see are giant hounds. Are these also the creations of that master Eliza mentioned?"

The Commander continued to simply observe as he mulled this over. The giant hounds, despite their terror inducing qualities, were fairly weak. His attention shifted to Eren's group as they were still carving their way to the basement.

**—-—-—**

On the left, to the right, hindering their progress. The giant hounds kept lunging and pouncing at them as they tried to make their way to the basement. It was within sight, only a few meters away. None of the group had fallen on the way, though the same couldn't have been said for their horses.

Historia stared at the dead eyes of the horse that'd been with her since the beginning. Almonds' neck was nearly severed from the rest of his body as he lay sprawled out on his side, gurgling as blood pooled around his hooves. She looked away as she cut the rest of his neck and prayed that he didn't suffer too much. Above her, Captain Ines was shielding her, her shorter blades the ideal weapons for quick and easy kills. Clean kills as she swiped and parried and evaded. She'd lost her horse as well, but as Historia looked up at her, she knew the older woman had stopped caring about her horse's name each time she'd get a new one only to have it devoured or maimed a short time after. It filled her with a certain sadness, the way Ines lived her life.

"Reiss, you need to get back to your feet!" Ines yelled over her shoulder and as soon as she finished off the last of her opponents she grabbed under the girl's arm and hoisted her to her feet. "You need to hurry up and catch up with the group!" Ahead of them was their team with Eren leading. Larrens was clutching his side from a close run in and currently Fritz was sealing it up with Annie and Jayce keeping any of the hounds at bay. Historia then nodded as she sprinted with Ines right on her heels, keeping her going. As they reached the team, Fritz had just finished and Eren was already on the move again with Mikasa guarding. With no time for a rest, they were off again.

As he ran a hand through his hair, Fritz immediately regretted the action as it now had streaks of red. He ducked from an oncoming hound and tripped, helped to his feet by Connie, who made a joke.

"Just keep going you two!" Eren said as he jumped over dead bodies of friend and foe alike.

"Eren's right, no time for small talk!" Armin added as he waved over to Commander Erwin for a quick confirmation that they still had the battle under control for the moment. Not too many casualties, but a lot of wounded. He turned to Jayce and Annie, who were working off each other to dispatch hounds, then to Sasha. "Sasha! Do you hear anything?!"

"I-I'm— _eek!_" A hound's jaws clamped together mere centimeters from her face and she jumped back as Annie took care of it with a thrust between the ribs. She scowled and huffed. "That was close... thanks Annie!"

"Sasha!"

"I can't hear anything out of the ordinary besides what's already going on around us!" she finally answered him back as she flailed her arms in annoyance. "How can I when all this going on anyway?!"

"She has a point," Jean added beside him. Then, "And the basement's right there!" He pointed toward it, a grave expression on his face. "And I have a bad feeling about what's done there!"

"A bunch of useless crates full of junk!" Riecka mocked, then slapped him on the back. "Is that what you're thinking? Cause' that's what I'm thinkin' about too!"

"We get there and it turns out to be nothing?! My dad wouldn't do that!" Eren growled as he picked up his pace even faster. He slide the rest of the way there, stopping just at the first step. The door was right there, and behind it was the answers humanity desperately needed. "Come on! This is what we've all been fighting for!" Behind him, the team was both waiting anxiously and fearful of what was going to be on the other side as Ines tasked a handful of extra soldiers to guard the basement from all sides.

He took the key his father had given him and, sliding it into the keyhole, proceeded to turn it, all of them holding their breath in anticipation of what could be on the other side...


	22. What Slumbers In The Dark

**XX||. What Slumbers In The Dark**

Pitch-blackness.

The only light coming, very dimly, from the open door they had just come through. They were forced to stumble in the dark, coming to find that nothing was there, not even cobwebs or the slightest specks of dust — as if something were forever keeping it from the harshness of time. The only thing made out in the absence of light was a podium, atop which lay an object wrapped in tightly woven cloth. Behind the podium was a shelf of books, five rows high, sitting perfectly against the wall.

Riecka snapped her fingers and grinned at Jean, "No boxes kid. We were wrong."

"What do you mean _we?_" Jean retorted as he made a face.

"Shut up, both of you! I think whatever is wrapped on that stand is what my father wanted to show me before he disappeared." Eren slowly stepped up to the podium, hesitant to simply reach out and grasp it.

Fritz snatched the object up and peered closely at the cloth covering it. "Looks really old," he observed and handed it to a wide-eyed Eren.

Eren relaxed and gripped it tightly. No traps, no tricks. "You shouldn't have just picked it up like that, what if it was booby-trapped!?"

Fritz shrugged, "Either of us would have been fine, right?"

"You have a point there..."

"Eren! Fritz! We can't dawdle here!" Armin called over and indicated at the steps. "The battle's still going on out there!"

"And we can't just sit here and admire some piece of junk while people are dying!" Connie added as he squeezed through everyone to the front of the group, brow furrowed.

"What about the books on the shelf?" Jayce asked.

"If we can, we'll secure those too." Ines said as she peered up the steps. "The way's clear. We need to go up to join the battle."

"Or, we can do two things at once!" Armin exclaimed. "Captain Ines, the majority of us can go up to the surface while a few stay here to see what that the object is!"

"Then who'll stay?"

Armin quickly glanced around and nodded, his face full of confidence. "One of your squad and two others. Just in case two people aren't enough. Is anyone willing to—?"

"I will." Connie said. "I want to be the one to unwrap it. I owe it to my village."

"And I'll stay too." Eletta raised her hand.

Ines nodded. "Then Larrens, you're tasked with guarding the two of them."

"Yes, ma'am!"

**—-—-—**

Eliza headbutted Garmr, twisted her upper body, and flipped his mass over her head, and, as he went to ground, she forcibly popped her leg's socket back into place. She turned to see him already up with a certain twinkle to his eye.

"You have improved..." he said with a renewed vigor as he dug at the soil with a claw. "It really is a shame." He feigned an aerial attack with the claw, and as she went to dodge, turned back into his human form. In the split second that it happened he reached out and grasped her wrist, breaking it with his full strength and lifting her by the now crushed bones. Her scream died in her throat as he punched her in the stomach then kicked her into another soldier, both of them tumbling in a heap.

Her fall broken by the man she'd been kicked into, Eliza flicked her broken wrist and tried fixing it but knew the impossibility of the task and grimaced because of the pain shooting needles up her forearm.

"You should transform."

"Not a chance asshole, I'll rip your fucking heart out with this hand," she held up the limb, managing to move a few fingers despite the severity of the injury, "so come on, no handicaps this time. We're going all out." She blew hair from her eyes, blood trickling down her forehead from the fall. "I don't need my Shifter ability to end your mongrel fuck-up of a life."

"Such harsh words." Garmr shook his head as he flexed his fingers. "You never were one for tact. Ymir was so much—"

"She's not a part of this! This fight has nothing to do with her and if you bring her up again I'll—!" Cracked rips, a ruptured liver. His fist twisted into her guts. She was knocked back again, clutching her chest and coughing up blood, forced on her knees. Eyesight shaky, body even more so. He pulled her hair and punched her again, breaking ribs. More blood.

"You always did talk too much, Skrymir. Always questioning orders, always questioning what was 'right' and what was 'wrong'. Lady Hela was always patient with it; your disobedience." Leaning down, he went to whisper into her ear, "But I'll tell you something. I always _hated_it. When I had found out you were leaking information, I so much wanted to kill you right then and there but the Lady stayed my hand. Even when you openly insulted and defied her, I was only allowed to rough you up. Imprison you in that shell for a long time. But now..." He went to grab her face when she suddenly lashed out and bit most of his fingers off and spat them at his face. She took the opportunity to kick up a dust cloud and crawl away.

On her hands and knees, Eliza forcibly quickened her regeneration process and rose to her feet the moment she was able. Finding Bertolt still in the thick of the fighting, she make her way over, asking what happened to Fritz's group. He told her they'd made it to the basement and should be securing whatever was down there. She grabbed him by his blood-stained undershirt, ripping it.

"Did they find out what it was?!"

"I-I don't know! Get off me!" he politely knocked her away and she fell. "I'm sorry! Here." He put her arm over his shoulder and walked to where Ymir was kicking the remains of a hound and cursing at it. There was a gash to her shoulder, and she was applying pressure to it to lessen the bleeding.

She ripped a bottom piece of her uniform off and tied it around her wound. " Where's the other one?"

Thumbing over to Reiner as he was hacking at a hound, she looked Eliza up and down. "Over there. I take it he was really out to flatten you..."

"What was your first clue?" Her wrist was still mangled and a few of her ribs were still cracked but at least she could walk — with assistance, anyway. "Anything from Friedrich and the rest?" she asked again.

"As far as I know they're still down there, why?"

Eliza cast a grave eye on her. "Whatever they found is the reason Garmr has been guarding it this whole time."

"That's why we were boxed in so quickly..." Bertolt gasped and Eliza nodded in confirmation.

"That's right. This is more than a simple trap. This is a—" Just then, a resounding thunder and light enveloped the whole area, but it wasn't from a Titan-Shifter. It'd come from the direction of the basement. The sky became darker and rain started pouring on their heads, as if hearkening the arrival of something terrible. "We have to get everyone away from here." Mist started to form.

"Reiner! You heard her! Get over there and warn them!" Ymir yelled. She went back to Eliza and put an arm around her. "Bertolt, help me with her." He shifted all his weight to carry her on his side.

**—-—-—**

"Everyone get back!" Ines shouted as she raised her short blades in a defensive stance. "Don't get any closer!"

Right in front of them was the charred corpse of Larrens, who had shielded Connie and Eletta from the explosion. They'd just unwrapped the object when the ground had seemingly come alive and blasted them to the surface. Captain Ines and the others weren't even more than a few meters from the basement when it happened.

Now, they all stared at a woman with blood-red hair, Connie on his knees in front of her and Eletta under her heel unconscious. She had a peculiar looking dagger positioned under Connie's chin and nobody moved for fear that she might end his life. In her other hand was the object.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, children, but this is mine, and I'm kindly taking it back. You all understand?" Her skin was full of life yet it seemed if one were to reach out and touch her it'd be colder than the most chilling of waters. "And as much as I would love to stand here and talk, I cannot."

"Guys! Forget about me and kill her! This is our chance! She's the one who destroyed my village! She's the cause of all this!" Connie screamed with so much rage he was heaving. "Don't let this _bitch _go!"

"A loud one, aren't you?" the woman said, smiling.

"Guys, now! _Kill—_!" Connie's rage was silenced as the woman drew the knife across his throat, the dagger absorbing the blood from the slash, as Connie's eyes went into the back of his head and stared at the sky.

Historia put a hand to her mouth, "No... Not again... not again! Connie...!"

The woman's smile was still plastered on her face as she left him to slump to the ground. "A sad end. _Garmr_."

"Yes, my Lady?"

"Take the girl, this fun is over."

"As you say." The man hefted the girl over his massive shoulder, the woman licking the edge of the dagger as it disappeared.

"Good-bye, children..." They dissolved in the rain and the hounds turned from flesh and bone to ash, disappearing back into the ground as if they were never there in the first place. There was a cry as someone pointed at an approaching Titan which seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

They were surrounded.

"Everyone! Engage! Don't surrender! Don't stop fighting!" Commander Erwin commanded. "The hole in the Wall still isn't sealed! We must seal it at all costs now more than ever! Humanity will not be defeated here!"

Fritz was silent as he looked upon Connie's body still knee deep in the mud, his face in the filth as rain peppered his shaved head. He closed his eyes and made a fist, opening and closing it repeatedly. Slowly. Screaming silently, tears fell from his face, mixing in with the rain that hit his friend's still warm body.

_That woman's presence._

All around him, men and women were getting ready to charge the Titans, their wires digging into any foothold they could find as they were ordered to engage, to kill and be killed. There was no stopping until all of them were dead. Until all of the Titans were vanquished.

_Resonating._

Ines was yelling at him to get back with the group. To bury his emotions for the ongoing struggle. He didn't hear her. All he heard and all he felt was the anger and misery blackening from his heart, pounding forth from his chest. Gripping his blades, he raised one of them at an approaching Titans. _No holding back_. A deep voice called out to him.

_Calling out to the darkness in his heart._

"Friedrich!" It was Eliza. "_Don't!_"

His smile was inhuman as he sneered menacingly, completely oblivious to everything except what was right in front of him. The Titans. He started forward in a daze.

"He's snapped." Ymir observed.

"_Ymir!_"

"Historia..." Ymir said as the shorter girl ran to her, her eyes heavy from all the tears.

"Connie and Larrens were killed and Eletta was kidnapped!"

"Damn..." She glared at Fritz who was getting further away.

"If he gets injured when there's nothing stopping him from being consumed by his bloodlust, he'll..."

"Fritz..." Historia watched him as he cut down a Titan without any signs of a conscious thought as he moved on to the next one. There was a mighty roar and a flash of light as Eren transformed, joining the fray with ferocity with Mikasa right behind him. Annie ran over drenched, hair sticking to her face.

"Where is he?!"

"Over there!"

"At this rate he'll turn," Eliza said as they locked eyes, "and when that happens he won't be able to distinguish friend from foe."

"Bertolt. We're going, come on."

"You think you can stop him now that he's like that?"

Annie didn't look back as she responded, _"Bertolt._" As she and Bertolt ran off to stop him, Reiner returned with Mina, who immediately wanted to know what was going on.

—-—-—

Fritz slashed deeply into the Titan's neck so hard that the blade snapped in half. He tossed the useless handle to the ground and rolled off the Titan as it collapsed to the ground. His blood boiled to the extremes. His anger. His pain. His sorrow. His rage. His misery.

Something was pounding through his veins, threatening to burst every single one of them if he didn't overcome his urges. The urge. To destroy, to ruin. His mind went in and out of what was reality and what was surrealistic, his whole body burning. He couldn't feel anything else, couldn't hear anything else. He knew his body was tiring, but it wouldn't let him rest. Something inside of him was reacting, shaping, forming.

Blood. His eyes were bleeding tears of blood. Trickling down his cheeks and falling from his chin. All he was crimson, and yet, he still couldn't stop. That something wouldn't let him. A voice spoke to him as his body killed another Titan, limbs steaming as they repaired themselves over and over again. It told him to keep going, to get his wish, to kill the one responsible, to murder them all. He couldn't control it, the bloodlust.

_Don't dwell on those emotions._

Annie had told him back then. Now he knew what she meant, in the part of his mind that was still his own. The place where the memories of Annie existed. Of his family and of his friends, where the dark could never reach and the blood could never stain.

_Fight it.__Don't dwell on those emotions, don't let it take you, fight it._

Something knocked him on his back and he got back up, the thing blocking his way. He thought of all the things beyond what was holding him back. All of the precious things, all of the lost things. One of his hands still held onto a weapon and he gripped it between slippery fingers. He'd cut through whatever it was that blocked his path.

Flashes in his mind again. Another voice, telling him to stop and continue to fight it. A voice that wasn't unlike that of his mother's.

_Come on, I know you're still in there! Listen to the sound of my voice! You can get through this! We can get through this, together!_

The voice, who was it? Black braids. He saw them, he felt them. _Mina. _He was in her embrace.

_Annie and I don't want to see you like this, so please!_

He shrugged her off and dragged his crimson blade in the dirt. Everything became a haze and there was the splintering of bone and muscle as his bloodlust finally overcame him. There was a scream, something as it flew back, and, another voice.

_Fritz. Friedrich. You stupid bastard. Kid. Brandt. Son. Darling._

He could hear their voices, yet he couldn't see them. He could feel as something fell onto his cheek, something wet. Like tears.

_I'll never leave your side…_

He'd made her cry again. How could he be so stupid a second time? Grasping out, reaching out for her voice.

… _So don't you even think of ever leaving mine!_

He'd vowed never to make her cry again. His body felt so hot, as if his skin were melting. Muscles and tendons destroyed and repaired themselves. The pain, unbearable.

_Because… I…!_

His breathing stopped.

**—-—-—**

Fritz woke up later on a stretcher in one of the many makeshift tents on what once had been the battleground of Shinganshina.

Wall Maria had been sealed thanks to the plan Armin had devised, but the victory was hollow because of the surprising amount of casualties despite the Commander's precautions to prevent a high number of them. He'd only survived thanks to his healing ability, which was still working hard to repair all the damage that'd been done to his body.

And, as he stared at one of his hands, the skin peeled and cracked, he thought of what had happened to Mina because of him. Both her arms had to be amputated because of the intensive burns from when she'd tried stopping him during the battle. Nobody had said it'd been his fault, but deep down, he knew that it truly had been.

He wasn't able to contain his emotions when Connie had died and as a result had went on that few minute rampage. If only he hadn't, then Mina would still have use of her arms, she wouldn't be labeled as a cripple for the rest of her life.

As he moved a few fingers, he vowed to never let his emotions get so out of control like ever again, no matter the situation. Yet, Mina herself had told him the only thing that mattered to her, even at the cost of her arms.

_That he'd come back to them._

That was all that had really mattered. And yet, he still couldn't accept the fact that it wasn't his fault, simply because it was. There was no changing that, even if one were to cover it up and bury it forever. He'd have to live with that for the rest of his life, and, now, he knew. He knew why Eliza had wanted to die, why she'd rather feel better off dead. The guilt, it never let you go.

He spent the rest of his recuperation in the company of surviving members of the 104th Trainee Squad. He spent it with Annie, as they waited for the day they were to be called out again. The day the promise between Annie and her father was to be fulfilled. Her village, and, perhaps, where it all started.

_The day she was to come back home._


	23. Resolve

**XX|||. Resolve**

_The feeling of the something as it entered his bloodstream, fighting his blood cells for dominance. It surged through his shoulder and down to his fingertips, burning and stabbing at his veins, his muscles. Throughout his body. The mistakes of the past as they merged with his body, a host for what was to lie slumbering until it was ready to be unleashed._

_Niklas Brandt waited until his son had blacked out from the procedure as described and silently left the room to Grisha Yeager, who was waiting outside his home. He realized how old the two of them had become since their time as young men when the light from his lantern illuminated his old friend's face underneath the hat. His eyes were more deeply set that they used to be._

_"Is it done?" Grisha asked in a quiet voice, eyes following Niklas's down to the syringe. "I see, so it is then."_

_"These side effects that you mentioned, are you positive they're only temporary?" Niklas asked as he set the instrument on Grisha's waiting palm. "I mean, memory loss at his age is..."_

_Grisha wiped the syringe down with a cleansing liquid and cloth, then pocketed it back into the medical bag at his hip. "I know what I'm doing, Niklas. I wouldn't lie to you about that, you know this." He put his hand on his old friend's shoulder and smiled. "The serum may not even have any effect on him and we won't know until it happens. If it even happens at all."_

_"Are you absolutely sure of this, Grisha?"_

_"No," Grisha replied in all seriousness. "But, I'm confident enough to test it on my own child, isn't that enough as to how much faith I have in the serum?" His hand went back down to his side and his expression hardened. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" he then asked, upon seeing Niklas turn a bit pale._

_"Ah, no, it's nothing. I just remembered that I hadn't given my eldest her gift for her promotion."_

_"She's the one who was recently promoted to Captain with the Legion, that right?"_

_Niklas nodded, "Yes, that's her. I was hoping to give her my old weapons, and, since the procedure is done, I'd better get to sharpening them."_

_"Very well, then I will see you until the next time." Grisha said as they clasped hands._

_Niklas watched his old friend as he disappeared into the night and frowned, holding back his tears. It felt as if his heart had stopped and he clutched at his chest. The pain. Of what they were doing to their children, of what they would have to endure when they got older. All the variables that even Grisha wouldn't have been able to compensate for. He hoped that everything, in the end, would turn out for the best. He trusted Grisha to a great degree, and yet, at the back of his mind, he knew the guilt of what they'd done was to haunt him for the rest of his days._

**—-—-—**

Special Investigations Squad Captain Ines Brandt skimmed over the recent report of Wall Maria's clean-up, the Titans still not all purged from the surrounding areas. Nothing in the report was of any interest to her expect for the one who'd presented it — her name at the top — and with it, a request.

The girl who stood before her was a face she knew well, though they'd only met briefly here and there, the longest having been during the Battle of Shinganshina a few months prior. Her blonde hair, soft blue eyes, small stature.

Historia Reiss, previously known under the alias Krista Lenz.

"You want to join the Special Investigations Squad?" Ines asked, her eyes now on the small scar on the girl's cheek, a memento from the battle. Barely even noticeable, and yet, she knew that just by the look of her, the girl wouldn't care if it were three times larger. It was the way she stood, the stance held so much resolve and purpose that a nick like that, or even a gash, wouldn't damper her spirits in the slightest.

Historia saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

"You are aware that the squad and I are staying here, correct?" A nod from Historia. "In any case, you'll be assigned with helping to weed out the mysteries surrounding Pastor Nick's death and the further corruption therein. As you know, your father and any of his associates are also involved in this... investigation..."

"I know, ma'am, and that's exactly why I want to be a member of your squad! This may one of the only opportunities for me to know more about my father and why he forced me to live under an alias all this time! If I don't find out the truth behind the circumstances of my family, then I..." the muscles in her face tightened, "can't face her. I can't face the afterimage of my mother and I certainly can't face Ymir again! Please, if you'd only allow me to—"

Ines stayed her with a raise of hand. "Save your breath for when you confront your father," she said, but then upon seeing a twinkle in the girl's eye, "though don't expect to see him right away, or even, to speak with him directly. There is a lot of ground we have to cover before going into the heart of issue, which I have a reason to believe your father is a major player in. Furthermore, you being assigned as my direct subordinate means less time with your friends and any other significant others... you're absolutely sure of your decision? You truly want to join the Special Investigations Squad?"

"No question, ma'am. It is as I've said — I can't go back to everyone if I don't have myself figured out first. Who I am... the family that I was born into..."

"Then, first thing at noon, you are to report in the central courtyard with the others, fully geared and ready to move out without a moment's hesitance. Do you have anything else you'd to ask about now that you have the chance?" Ines rested her hands on the desk and leaned forward.

Historia's gaze went to the window, "There was one thing — well two..." Her eyes went back to the Captain, "The first is about Mina." She gulped and inhaled deeply. "Is she no longer considered fit for active duty? Even without her arms, she can still prove useful to the Legion with the knowledge she dug up with Eliza..."

"The matter of Mina Carolina's crippled state has already been dealt with, but we haven't informed anyone just in case the Military Police has spies planted within our ranks. Of course, this office and you are both safe, so I have no trouble disclosing the information to you. Mina... has been discharged from the military. She is no longer a part of the Scouting Legion and is currently with her family in Wall Rose, though she is still insistent on helping our cause. As such, the Commander has given her free rein to communicate via secure lines, and yes, there is a strong possibility that you'll meet her again in the near future. You have my word on that."

Historia's face was one of relief, _happiness,_ and she smiled as she spoke again, "Yes, ma'am!"

"And... your second question?"

"The second question was the other spot in the Special Investigations Squad that has yet to be refilled. I have a suggestion, if you'd allow." She waited until Ines nodded as a sign of her approval and continued, "I believe that Jayce Mundis, formerly of the 104th Trainee Squad, should be the chosen. My reason for choosing him is that he is also from Wall Sina, ma'am..."

"Is that the only reason?" Ines asked, remembering the boy. His family was one of the main backers of weapons distribution for the military, if she recalled correctly. The boy himself was very keen and insightful.

Historia shook her head, "No, ma'am, but it is one of the main ones. Recently, he told me that his family has been involved with shady dealings, though he himself didn't seem too concerned about it. It appears that he has a certain detachment from his family, like myself. I believe that I'd feel more comfortable around someone with similar circumstances to my own... ma'am..."

"I'll see what I can do, but don't expect him to be chosen. And, as I've now answered your questions, you are dismissed. I will see you in a few hours' time. Don't be late."

Historia saluted and was about to take her leave, when Ines thought of one last thing to say.

"And, Reiss, I'm glad to have you as a subordinate."

**—-—-—**

Face buried into her pillow, Historia remembered the way her mother had always looked down on her, acted like she hadn't existed. Even when kids from the surrounding area had bullied her, she'd done nothing to stop them.

And yet, Historia didn't blame her for not acting, for not being brave enough. For not having the courage. After all, she was the exact same way. That is, until she met everyone else — especially Ymir. She sighed to herself as she flipped over and stared at the ceiling and thought of what they must be up to.

Today was the day that Reiner and Bertolt were promised a return to their home village with a detachment from the Legion and she wondered what Annie thought of it. She'd been with Fritz the whole time, and yet, Historia doubted Fritz had let her stay with him that _whole_ time. There was too much going on to only worry about the well-being of another. There must be a lot of their minds, as with everyone else's. They'd lost so many people and it hadn't even been six months since their graduation from training.

Her thoughts went to Achi and her sleeping face that would never wake again. A tear. Marco, Connie, Samuel, Dazz... so much death in such a short amount of time, she was barely able to keep her emotions in check. And, Eletta was still missing. Her mind wandered to Ymir and she smiled sadly. Ymir was, as had been Achi, one of her best friends. And yet, she scarcely knew a thing about her...

Though, if she wanted to know about Ymir, she needed to know more about herself first and that's exactly what she was going to set out to do.


	24. Commence

**XX|V. Commence**

_Walls of stone, fifty meters tall and overbearing. _

_The first was called Sina. Built from the giant forms of slumbering homunculi to keep the King's castle and innermost lying towns safe from the Titans, which have been a plague on humanity since only the gods knew when.__To them, humanity was like cattle that needed to be swiftly filled with disease, made to suffer, and die by the thousands, and even then it didn't sate their hunger. Thus, it was, that this new wall had been constructed. _

_The second wall was called Rose, and it protected the middle class towns, surrounding them in a circle. This further separated the rich from the poor. _

_Third was Wall Maria, named after the King's younger brother's wife. Who, a very righteous and notable figure in her own right as a woman, embedded within him that even the poor needed protection._

_The only offspring this brother and his wife had conceived was named Eliza, and against their wishes and that of the King's, her uncle, she joined the Garrison and quickly rose through the ranks as a valued member to the cause of humanity, though her tenacity of letting her temper get the best of her was a constant problem for her comrades.__Still, she was regarded as somewhat of a royal knight, clad in the standard Garrison attire with a few extra accessories. Under her khaki-colored jacket she wore a jerkin with a collar that framed the back and sides of her neck, the front exposed, which helped to stop wind and keep the body warm. Red in color, it signified her heritage in relation to the King. She, herself, had thought everyone's pandering to be bothersome and on her days without any of her superiors around would just simply wear all black attire._

_The weaponry given to the soldiers of the Garrison, and that of the military in general, even the newly created Scouting Legion, were not tools effective against Titans. Their purpose was to serve as a comfort and a sign of enforcement for any people spirited enough to go against the King. As a fighting tool, it was rarely used._

_Her weapon had come straight from the King's personal forge: it had a circular pummel that resembled a mace and straight metal grip with a guard partially wrapped around the wielder's hand, the blade thick and swelled when it came to a point, slightly curved with a back edge. Mainly, it was for tearing and cutting at flesh, but if the wielder was skilled enough, they could also use it to effectively thrust._

She looked down at the weapon still in pieces on her bed, hoping one day that it could be repaired again. Behind her, Captain Levi was leaning against her door, eyes never leaving the floor.

"They're getting ready to move out, and I was told to come get you." He said after the silence started to grow. "Along with my squad, I'm to personally see to the Shifters' safety, and that includes you as well. If you don't get moving, I'll force you out." His threat was met with more silence. "_Tsk._ Just get your uniform and come down to the courtyard already, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to."

Eliza looked down at herself. She was wearing all black. "As you say, Captain _Levi._" She turned her head ever so slightly, "Leave while a lady is changing, don't you have any manners?" But, he was already gone, and her eyes were once again on the sword, wondering if she would be able to take it along.

Her main position within the Garrison back then had been overseeing the travelers that passed to and fro between the gates of Shinganshina. A great responsibility for someone as young as herself, only thirteen then. Occasionally, she'd venture outside the safety of the Walls, meeting the Scouting Legion halfway on their return trips home. She'd ask about the Titans; if they've encountered any or just mapped the surrounding area and it was always the latter, never the former.

Titans haven't been spotted for a long time back then, which was one of the reasons they had gotten the Walls built so quickly, and, secretly, she'd hoped they'd appear at least once in her lifetime. Just so she could say she saw one in the flesh.

How _naïve_ she'd been back then.

**—-—-—**

Outside on the courtyard, the detachment to be sent out was lined up via role. Four soldiers to a line, five lines in total. The first line was tasked with dealing with any Titans that may impede their progress, while the second was to serve as a backup in case there were too many, or if the first all perished. Fritz's eyes went to them as he tried to spot anyone he knew.

In the last few months the Legion has been preparing to undertake this latest expedition, the 58th, members from the other branches had crossed over, now feeling as if beating the Titans was a possibility after Maria was retaken.

None of them he knew.

The third line, of which he was a part, and the fourth, which Jayce was a part, were tasked with providing assistance to the Special Operations Squad and to any of the Titan Shifters all in attendance at the front. Annie's eyes were on him, he could feel it.

"The expedition into the reclaimed territory will now commence." Commander Erwin said, his voicing ringing out over the sound of the birds and rustling of trees. "But, first, I would like to clarify a number of issues regarding it. Three members of the Scouting Legion are here today, and, they were the ones responsible for the breach at Shinganshina five years ago. You know them as Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, and Annie Leonhart, though humanity has feared them as the Armored-Type Titan, the Colossal-Type Titan, and the Female-Type Titan respectively. I will say with all certainty that what they did is subject to treason, betrayal, murder, and any other harsh punishments one could think of, but I will also say that through them and the others like them, we have learned far more about the Titans than ever before. I will even go as far to say that their attack on Maria five years ago benefited humanity more than hampered it. As such, any actions taken upon them or the other Titan Shifters will henceforth be seen as treason and a betrayal of humanity's efforts."

Nobody moved as he was talking, but Fritz knew some of them, perhaps even most of them, wanted a piece of the ones responsible for the breach. Indirectly, they were responsible for the thousands lost during the attack and could be blamed for any after. The three of them were wading through gallons of blood, slowed down and weighed by the guilt of their actions. The psychological torments they must have endured to cope, evident with Reiner's splits in personality, was enough repentance for their actions. And, now, this expedition may further that.

"The second issue is of certain individuals who have exhibited powers similar to that of a Shifter's," the Commander's eyes shifted to him, as did the others, "and we have yet to figure out why that is the case, but as before, I have a reason to believe that the powers gifted to those individuals are for the pure benefit of humanity. Thirdly, and, lastly, the other Shifters." He nodded for Eren, Eliza, and Ymir to step forward. "You know one as the hero of Trost who sealed the breach in Wall Rose, Eren Yeager, now also known as the Control-Type Titan because of an earlier incident in which he and two others were kidnapped. During this incident, he seemed to exhibit a power similar to that of a puppeteer, controlling a Titan via his own body and mind outside of his Shifting ability. The other two you may have not heard or known much of. These two are, respectively, Skrymir and Ymir. Otherwise known as the Speaking-Type and Dancing-Type Titans. The two of them are to be held with an air of wisdom, as they are both much older than they appear, and thus, have experienced much more than any of us present."

Fritz locked eyes with the two of them as the Commander went on to a brief summary of the expedition's primary objective, to investigate the village and any mysteries it may hold. Both of their expressions were blank, but by being around them a number of times, he knew what their expressions were really like. Eliza at least amused, but overall bored as nothing was really happening. Ymir was annoyed, mainly at having to stand next to the girl she'd been with for multiple decades yet again, as if they were a companion piece. Or, at least, that was the vibe coming off of them as they stood there together, side by side.

**—-—-—**

_Walking through the half deserted streets of Shinganshina, the sun setting wearily behind her, Eliza stared up at the belltower knowing the bell at the very top had been unused for quite some time. At her side, the young boy Heath stared at the sword on her hip, awed by its craftsmanship. _

_"Someday, you'll be able to have one of these too," she told him._

_She'd tried not to mingle with the townspeople too often, but the kids all seemed to gravitate towards her no matter the time of day. It irked her, but she knew she couldn't raise her voice to mere children and usually let them follow her until they either lost interest and went to do something else just as meaningless or she gently shooed them. Heath though, this boy was different. An odd case, the only one to stick with her no matter what. She couldn't deny that she'd grown used to it, and, surprisingly, a bit fond of the boy. His bowl-cut brown hair and those big brown eyes, missing two teeth in the bottom row, that gaunt when he walks. Yes, she was a bit fond of him now, certainly._

_"You think?" he answered, small hands thrust out as if imagining himself holding her sword, its imaginary weight pulling him down as he tripped and fell. As he shook himself free of dirt and whatever else stuck to the ground, he looked up at her and blinked. "It's heavy."_

_"Are you alright, Munsell?" she asked as the boy further dusted himself off and stood again, then smiled his imperfect smile._

_"A-ok!" he exclaimed as he clumsily performed the military's universal salute, the knuckles of his right fist over where his heart would be. Then, "Say, why'd you join the Garrison instead of the Scouting Legion?"_

_Her eyes finally left the belltower. "Why? I guess it's because of my parents. I did it so they wouldn't have to worry about me risking my life outside the Walls, safe and sound inside of them instead."_

_"But, you're always mumbling to yourself: _'why do I have to babysit this place', 'what's the deal with these brats', 'what happened to the members that went out, they haven't come back yet'_? __It sounds like you want to be a part of the Scouting Legion instead, Eli." Heath had given her the nickname "Eli", which he'd been using since he first met her, despite her instructions to use her full name. His face lit up with a passion. "Well, I'm going to join them when I get older! You'll see!" He pointed a finger at her. "And when I do, I want you to be the Commander! I want you to be there when I finally become a member!"_

_"Heath, I can't just up and leave the Garrison for the Scouting Legion," she retorted. They were all the same, criticizing and expecting things from her that she didn't want to be expected of. "By the time you've graduated, and I had joined the Scouting Legion before then, there's a chance I'd already be dead. Then, there would be no sight of me at your ceremony, your induction, and least of all me being present as the Commander."_

_"You're just scared of going against your family!"_

_"If my father and mother saw that I had left the safety of the Walls for the outside world, they'd have a heart-attack in unison. I don't want them to die abruptly at their ages—"_

_"You're scared of the Titans, you're scared of the King, and his warnings! You're a coward, Eli!"_

_Eliza yanked on his ear. "Who's a coward, you brat?!"_

_"Admit it! You're just a scaredy-cat and that's all you'll ever be unless you join the Scouting Legion and stop being one! When you do, I want you to be the Commander when I graduate, Eli!"_

_"Wha—! You... want me to join that badly, huh?__If I do join the Scouting Legion, there is a chance that I won't be there for you in the future, can you accept that fact?"_

_"I already have, Eli!" Heath exclaimed, tears in his eyes as he hugged her legs. "I don't want to see you so sad, thinking about joining and not joining!"_

_Sighing, Eliza shook her head and ruffled his bowl-cut. "I'll think about it, alright? Just stop crying, will you? I thought you said you were going to join the Legion and they don't accept crybabies!"_

_Sniffling, Heath wiped his nose and spread whatever dripped out of it onto his tunic. "I-I'm not a crybaby!"_

_"Right, I'll take your word for it then," Eliza said, rolling her eyes as she went back to looking up at the belltower. _

_The prospect of potentially coming face to face with a Titan was right up her alley, yet she didn't want to upset her parents. Though, as Heath pointed out, she also couldn't live in their shadow forever, and no, she wasn't a coward— she just didn't want to cause them worry. Yes, that was it. She wasn't a coward, not at all..._

_"Are you sure you want to do this, Eliza?" the King asked, dismissing his aide with a wave of his hand._

_Standing straight, watching his hands clasped behind his back, his white beard that reached down to his neck, bare scalp, and once blue eyes, Eliza answered her uncle almost immediately, "Yes, it's what I want most, even if my parents disapprove. I think I would do better in the field than stuck directing traffic within the Walls."_

_"Very well, I'll see your transfer goes smoothly. But, I will warn you: your father may not protest as much, but your mother will indefinitely. I don't want to see my younger brother's family torn into two by this rash decision of yours, which means you'll be responsible only for yourself if anything may arise from it."_

_"Understood, uncle." Eliza went to one knee then hastily got back to her feet and turned on her heel to leave as her uncle dismissed her, calling back his aide as he did so. No, she wasn't a coward. She never wanted to be called that again._

**—-—-—**

Eliza touched the hilt of her sword, now secured via a strap to her back. The detachment was prepping their horses and she sat on a stump waiting for them to finish. She heard a crunching of boots but didn't avert her eyes from the ground. "Are they done yet, Friedrich?"

"Nearly, but that's not why I'm here, Eli. I'm checking up on everyone, making sure they're alright before we head out. Anything bothering you?"

"No, nothing to raise any concern about." She nodded towards Sasha and Jayce, who were prepping a horse together, shooting love stares at one another while they did so. "Though, the two of them are gonna start groping each other soon, you may want to worry more about them first, rather than me."

Fritz followed her nod. "I think a little compassion in midst of all this misery is exactly what we need. Are you sure you're feeling alright? Usually you're more..."

"Active? You bastard, what do you think I am? A wind-up toy?" She glared at him and then smirked, her expression becoming more playful. "You damned bastard, now look what you made me do! I was trying not to smile..."

He raised an eyebrow, "You call that smiling?" A grin on his face, he braced himself as she punched his shoulder. The hit knocked him back a few feet. She hit hard, even when joking, just like Annie. He could feel the damage to his arm being repaired almost instantly thanks to his regeneration ability, which was one of the two things the Commander had meant by _"certain individuals who have exhibited powers similar to that of a Shifter's"_, the other being his healing ability, which allowed him to reconstruct and potentially deconstruct a person's body with his hands. "You really need to lighten up on those punches..." he said as he winced from another one.

"Shut up, why don't you go bother your _girlfriend_ if you've nothing to do but annoy me?"

"She's not," he caught her next fist and struggled to hold her still, "my girlfriend. Annie and I are—"

"So close that you share a room together?" Eliza retorted. "Don't try and deny it, I've noticed the way you are with one another..."

"What?" Fritz only recalled himself talking with her as he normally did recently, brief bouts with rarely any emotion attached, such as when he'd wanted soup and she'd gotten annoyed because he didn't shut up about it and threw the steaming bowl at his face, spoon and all. When he'd screamed in pain, his face steaming from both his regenerative abilities and the scolding hotness of the soup, rolling on the floor as she'd bent down to check on him. The joke he'd made and his subsequent beating from her in all of her cute red-faced embarrassed anger. "We don't do anything other than talk casually with one another..."

Eliza rolled her eyes, "Right." She tore herself from his grasp and rubbed her knuckles, "Just leave me alone and go feel her up or something, will you?"

"I told you were aren't— hey wait! Where are you going?! Don't laugh at me! We aren't like that, dammit!" he shouted, causing a ton of heads to turn on him. If Connie were still here, he'd have come up and joked non-stop about them, at the same time offering his comments on Eliza. Achi would have told him to _"shut the fuck up, you bald moron! Nobody wants to hear your fetish fantasies!"_ and would've kicked him. "Dammit..." Annie and Achi's village, he'd swear to find whatever it was to be found there about the Titans, for them and Annie.

**—-—-—**

Annie watched Reiner and Bertolt on their horses, the preparations still not finished. When had she begun moving further and further away from them? During the Battle of Trost? No, even before then, before training had even ended. It had all started with him. _Fritz._Hand on her own horse, she felt her way into one of the pouches strapped to its hide and pulled out something Ines had given her.

A flower, stained in dried blood from Achi's body before they'd burned it like all the others. A flower of hope, to remind her that life moved on, and also one of binding, that she could never forget what's happened even as she takes those next precious steps. She wondered now if she were the same Annie that Achi had remembered in their childhood together and cupped the flower to her heart.

A voice called out to her and immediately she turned around, the flower back in its pouch, hands now to her sides as her eyes went to Hange. The glasses wearing woman had her frizzy looking hair tied back into a ponytail. A slender figure, with an enthusiastic yet understanding and knowledgeable personality. If she recalled, she was a very good friend of Ines, and, very different from her as well. She was before her now, huffing and puffing from having rushed over. Hands on her knees as she bent over, she didn't even wait more than a few seconds before she started to speak again.

"Your crystallization ability, Armin told me how you control it! But, ah, I have to see it for myself!" Her eyes were sparkling. "I want you, in the time that we have now, to show it to me. If we can pinpoint how you do it, then maybe we can teach the others how to do it as well! I mean, not saying that none of them don't know how to do it already, but you seem the most adept at making it happen! Well, well?! What do you say?!"

"Right now?" Multiple nods from Hange. "It's simple, can't any of the others figure it out? Have Reiner show you."

"But you're the most adept at it! I know this for a fact, you know it for a fact! Come on, please?!"

She sighed, lifting an arm. "Just don't drool on my boots when I do it," she said as her hand became encased in crystal and shone in the light, reflecting off the Squad Leader's square-shaped glasses. "I had already explained to Armin that I focus my mind of a specific part of the body I want protected and it happens. Are you saying it isn't as easy for the others as it is for me? What about Ymir... or Eliza? One of them must be able to perform the same ability. Eliza should know more about it than I do."

Hange averted her eyes and in a whisper said, "A-ah, but the thing is, they wouldn't tell me and the others were clueless, except Reiner who directed me to you."

"And what do you think this will accomplish? More safety measures or more destructive power?" She was thinking of Eren, the suicidal moron. He was bound to use it for pummeling things rather than protecting himself. Actually, now that she thought about it, Reiner was the same way. Fritz may resort to using the ability for violence, though she wasn't one to judge as she's done more than her fair share. The difference was that she knew to use it primarily for _protection_. "Those morons wouldn't know how to properly exploit the ability, so why should I teach it to them in the first place? I had only showed Reiner because... of..." her gaze went to her horse and the crystal around her hand dissolved, "because he couldn't break down the gate without it, his body would have taken much more damage than it had, even with the hardened state of his Titan form, and he would have taken that much longer to recover."

"Don't you see that whatever is waiting for us may require multiple uses of crystallization?!"

"I see your point, but no. I won't teach anyone, it'd be a waste of time and there isn't much time left."

"I-I see... that's a shame..." Hange shook her head and then smiled. "No worries, though! I'll find a way to unlock that ability on my own!" And, then, almost instantaneously, her cheery attitude turned gravely serious, "But, whatever we encounter, I'm relying on you and your ability to deliver, do I make myself clear?"

Annie responded with a slight nod, Hange smiling her approval and moving on, mumbling to herself. Her eyes went to Reiner and Bertolt again. Sometime, maybe soon, she was going to have to confront them again. Whether that be as an ally or an enemy, she had yet to know. She hoped that they didn't resort to anything rash, no matter what happened during the expedition, but that was the only she could do—_hope._

**—-—-—**

Historia twitched slightly when she saw Ymir spitting after a recent argument with Eliza over the nicknames the older girl had started using for the two of them. Blondie. Freckles. She giggled. Freckles was a rather funny fit for Ymir, who indeed had freckles on her cheeks, and she frowned — the scars from when she'd shifted back at Castle Utgard were still there. They'd always be there, wouldn't they?

"Reiss, stop ogling your friends and help me with these crates," Riecka, Captain Ines's second in command, barked.

As Historia went back to hefting the crate she set down, she couldn't help but believe that Riecka enjoyed bossing her around. It made sense, with her being the newest member of the squad and all. The rookie.

The whole time the detachment for the expedition had been prepping their horses and getting their final checks in order, she and the rest of Special Investigations Squad had been loading a wagon full of provisions, yet Historia still hadn't been told as to their contents. She guessed firearms, or food, the main things that were hauled via wagon. Clothing, perhaps? Hopefully she would be informed soon, as she really didn't enjoy the game of guessing.

Almost as if she were a mind-reader, Riecka spoke up again, "They're full of documents." She grinned when she saw the look on Historia's face. "Yes, documents," she patted the one she'd just set down in the back of the wagon, "and on these documents is where the corruption that the Captain was talking about begins. Our task after the detachment leaves, and once we haul all of it to a secure location, even more secure than the Scouting Legion Headquarters, is reading through every one of them. Fun, eh?"

"A-and why do we have to do that...?"

"So we can isolate the ones where the corruption runs the deepest. Why else? If it were me, I'd much rather just march up there and rough them up, but the Captain likes to do things objectively. First, we find narrow down the list of suspicious activities that happen to catch our eye. Second, we check them out. And third, we crack some skulls. Sounds nice, eh?"

"Yes, ma'am..." Historia's eyes went down to her crate, which Riecka took from her and put on top of hers. "Did Captain Ines ever decide who was going to be the other new member of the squad?"

Riecka shrugged. "Never told me anything about it. Why?"

"No, it's nothing." She looked away for a brief moment. The detachment was all ready to move, they were just waiting for signal from Hange. "What do you think they'll find out there?"

"It doesn't matter, kid," Riecka replied and put a hand on her head. "The only thing that you should be worrying about is helping me get the rest of these crates into the wagon, and, once that's done, focus on what secrets the Military Police has been keeping from us. Your friends, they'll be just fine without you. And besides, most of them seem capable enough."

"You really think that? I mean, what if something goes wrong while—"

"It would go just as wrong if you were there too. Your being with them won't change anything, it may even hamper them further. Just... help with these crates..."

"Yes, ma'am..."

**—-—-—**

Commander Erwin stood with Captain Ines, his eyes on the piece of paper in her hand. It was a request from the Commander of the Garrison, Dot Pixis. He was requesting that one of his own personal guard join the Special Investigations Squad, and that he'd like to work together with the Scouting Legion against the corruption plaguing the underbelly of the Military Police. As he took the note and read the name that was on it again, he blinked and handed it back. "Anka Rheinberger." He nodded his approval of the choice. A competent and loyal soldier, one who without question would give her life for the greater good of humanity. Someone they could trust indefinitely. "What do you think Captain?"

"Sir! I know this woman to be a valuable asset to Dot Pixis and the Garrison as a whole. With her insight, I believe that as a temporary member of the Special Investigations Squad, she would be invaluable to the uncovering of the Military Police's corruption. There are also few others I would trust so strongly with my life."

"Then I want you to take your squad and meet up with Commander Pixis as soon as possible. The detachment to the village is already on the move and I want your squad in action as well. Furthermore, be sure to keep the Reiss daughter under a close watch, she's connected to whatever the Military Police is up to behind the scenes and is a prime target for assassination. Never let your guard down. You are dismissed, Captain."

"Yes, sir!" Ines saluted as the Commander moved on to another at his side. She spotted her squad by the wagon they were to haul further into Wall Rose, ready to move out.

The first phase of the investigation was now underway.


	25. Violence

**XXV. Violence**

The Reeves Corporation, a company currently supplying the whole of the military with supplies ranging from weaponry to bandages and supplements, was the most frequent name to pop up on each document the Special Investigations Squad looked over. Its owner was Dimo Reeves, a portly man who's prime concern in life was checking the amount of money he made daily never went under a precisely calculated amount. Described as a greedy, self-centered, and yet, surprisingly cooperative and reasonable man when it came down to it, he had built his company from the ground-up, growing and expanding until it monopolized nearly every militaristic supply chain except for food, which came elsewhere.

The company itself had previously been based in the Trost District, but during its breaching they'd fled to the safety of Wall Sina like everyone else. Unlike everyone else, the company had immediately been given an area to resume its operations again. And now, as the Special Investigations Squad stood at the front entrance to their main warehouse, deep within the nest, they waited for the matriarch to reveal itself.

The main warehouse was so massive that even a regular sized Titan would feel small; completely made of a hardened steel with wood as foundation, three giant windows on either side reaching just above the ground and just below the roof, which was flat. All six of the windows had smoke billowing out of them, the industrialized confines of whatever made them churning inside.

Historia covered her ears from the noise that seemed to emit all around them and waited as Captain Ines shouted over the roaring noise of the machines to call out Dimo Reeves again and, yet again, receive no answer. She heard Ines curse. Then, the doors creaked open to reveal a portly man and his bodyguards, faces flustered by the heat. He told them to follow to one of the outlying warehouses, where the noise of the machines and smoke wouldn't be a problem. When they got to the warehouse in question, one that looked like a one story boarding house, he ushered everyone inside. As they all stood in the space — Special Investigations Squad on one side, portly man and his bodyguards on the other — Dimo Reeves began.

"Welcome, members of the Scouting Legion. Is there a particular reason for your visit? Ah, well yes, of course there is, what other reason could you have for coming here? The one in front, I assume you to be the leader of this group, do you have something you want to share?" The way he talked was pleasant, like described, yet there was a hint of distress. His gaze wandered between the five of them and lingered on Historia the most.

Without a word, Captain Ines raised her hand and closed it into a fist. All at once, they converted on Dimo and his bodyguards, and Captain Ines personally twisted the portly man's arms behind his back and slammed his face into the stone ground. When she lifted up, his nose was broken, blood pouring profusely.

"So, this is your answer to my questions? _Violence?_" The look in his eyes was hostile, like that of a man with everything to lose. "Are you here for what the Interior Squad has been doing behind the scenes? Is that what you want to know from me and the Reeves Corporation?" He grunted as he was brought to his feet. "Well, young lady, you're doing a hell of a job of getting me to talk, ain't you?" The Captain twisted his arms harder, still not saying a word. "All you had to do was explain it to me in a civil manner, because right now I'm going to tell you something: _the Military Police Interior Squad is full of imbeciles and incompetent morons._ See, if you would have talked with me in a civil manner, I would have told you that I don't like them all that much. They threatened me and the Corporation to turn blind eyes to all of the illegal dealings, to spy on the Scouting Legion, to gather information for them under the guise of a friendly face. If we hadn't, they would have shut me down and then everyone working under me would be without a way to earn money for their families. We would all starve and perish."

"Tell me the names of those within the Military Police Interior Squad who ordered you to do these things and I'll make sure the Scouting Legion takes you and your Corporation under its wings. I'll make sure none of you or your families have to starve, and I will warn you that doing so means you will hereby oppose any of the Military Police's operations and dealings and will see fit to counteract them at your own discretion. In exchange, I will give you the object you've been ogling all this time," she twisted his head to Historia, the only member of the squad not holding someone down and whispered into his ear, "I'll give you the disowned heir to the Reiss Household. _Historia Reiss._"

Dimo chuckled. "So you know what our next target was to be? You're a very resourceful leader, your commander must be proud to have one such as you. As for your terms, I accept them though I do not particularly agree to them, but, ah, as you already know if we were to report back to the Military Police Interior Squad empty-handed they would show no mercy to us. Therefore, I have no other options other than to cooperate with you and the Scouting Legion. As such, I will give you the names of those who ordered us, but only after I, the workers under me and their families, as well as the entirety of the Reeves Corporation itself, is safely within the bounds of Scouting Legion territory."

"Agreed." Captain Ines nodded and released him, simultaneously signaling the others to do the same. "No questions asked."

**—-—-—**

Historia looked out from atop Wall Rose at Trost and the mass of people leaving its gates for Scouting Legion territory. The families of the workers.

Many of them had decided to still live in the District despite the majority of it still ruined from the battle months earlier. A sad smile came to her lips; it didn't feel as if it'd been only months since then — but years. She wondered what the Captain's ultimate goal was in handing her over to the Military Police Interior Squad. Perhaps her father was among them, perhaps it was so she could see him sooner than expected, right off the bat. She laughed.

As if that was going to be the real case. After all, the Captain was personally interrogating the man who Dimo Reeves had said ordered his Corporation's actions, and also, that this man was the one who personally murdered Pastor Nick. The look in the Captain's eyes was different than a week ago. They were colder, and, she no longer smiled when she saw her. Historia thought of what the detachment could be doing right at this very moment. What struggles they were enduring, what her friends were doing. She wanted them to know that she was thinking of them, their safety, and if they were thinking of her in return.

She wanted to become whole again.

**—-—-—**

Fritz watched the members of the first line as they dispatched a Titan that had gotten too close to their camp for the night and let out the air he'd been holding in. The now deceased Titan had been the twelfth one since they'd begun and they hadn't even gotten halfway by Reiner's estimate. The camp they'd set up for the night was mainly for the horses to catch their breath and to formulate a plan once they actually made it. He looked over at Ymir, who was scraping something off one of her boots with a knife. She caught his stare and glared back, then motioned him over as she went back to scraping.

"It's not polite to stare, you dipshit," she remarked as he sat beside her. "What there something you wanted from me or do you really have some type of fetish like Achi claimed?"

He replied with a nod at her boot, "What's on there? You step on something?"

"No, I just like dulling knives on boots for fun. Yes, I stepped on something. Is that all you wanted to know?" She looked at him, eyes searching his face. "Ask me whatever you want, but don't expect an answer."

He nodded again. "What do you think we're going to find in their village? Will it really be something to defeat the Titans like Reiner and Bertolt said earlier? What if it's all ruins, like when I peeked at Annie's memories?"

"If what those two said were true, then we'd already be over there instead of sitting on our asses here. The two of them still aren't trusted. Hell, none of the Titan-Shifters besides that _'I'll kill 'em all!' _blockhead aren't going to be second-guessed as to what they say or do. Haven't you seen the way some of the soldiers stare at us? Nobody's said anything yet, but believe me when I say they're still resentful for all that's happened. As for what they said is true or not, I doubt it." She put down the knife and wiped off her boot. "You said you saw Annie's memories or something?"

"Yeah, during the time she was encased in that crystal we could somehow see each other's memories and communicate by using our thoughts. I saw her village in ruins then. It was up in flames and it might have burned down by now. Titans were everywhere."

Ymir was silent for a moment. Then, "Did you see one that... looked like me?"

Fritz shook his head. "I didn't see much, brief flashes here and there, so I wouldn't have been able to make out anything like that. Though, if what Bertolt had said about you eating someone back then—"

"Forget it, it's not important anymore." She got up and sighed. "I just wanted some more closure than the words of those two."

"And why's that?"

"So I know for certain that I'm living in my own skin as I want. Skrymir tell you anything about me from back then?"

"Back then... you mean decades ago..." He wondered aloud as Ymir nodded. "No, nothing that I can recall. She's kept to herself about the past, like you. The two of you are very similar..."

"What are you implying?"

"Maybe the two of you were close back then. Sort of like sisters. Since she's the older one, then that means—"

"Are you saying her personality rubbed off on mine and the reason I act the way I do is a result of her influence back then? That the person I am now isn't because of my own efforts at changing who I was in the past? What the fuck do you know about _my_ past to talk so casually about it with me?"

"I didn't mean... Maybe you should go talk to her about it. That's what I would do, anyway." He got up and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, to which she scowled and shrugged him off. "Sorry, force of habit."

"Why the hell would I talk with that bitch for? She's nothing but a... no... forget it..." Ymir shook her head and walked off, leaving Fritz to frown where he stood.

"Is something the matter, Fritz?" Annie asked from behind, a hand on her breast pocket. Achi's flower was inside of it now, instead of the pouch. Her eyes followed his. "You really need to stop pissing people off," she remarked.

"Do you think your father will still be there if we get there?"

"What?" Annie's eyes narrowed. "Of course there is always the possibility that he could be dead, if that's what you're asking. He could have went— no, he most likely went into hiding since then."

"Right... sorry... I just..."

"A lot on your mind too?" She came up to his back and turned her eyes down at his boots. "Once we get there, hopefully all of our questions will be answered. The key to all of what's been going on until now."

"If they're the key, then what would be the lock that they open?"

Annie looked up at him, "There's no use thinking about _'what ifs'_, don't you think?"

"Sorry..."

"Apologize again and I'm going to hurt you. You have nothing to apologize for Fritz." She reached a hand on his cheek and he touched it. "Nothing you say is ever going to hurt me and nothing I say is ever going to hurt you. Whatever happens once we get there happens, there is no turning back. So, don't think about the _'what ifs'._ There is no point in doing so and you're only causing yourself more stress."

He squeezed her hand and closed his eyes. "Yeah, you're right..."

**—-—-—**

"Reiner, do you think any of it is still standing?" Bertolt asked, his eyes on the small firepit the detachment had setup for the night. "I mean, it's been five years since then..." His eyes searched the flickers of flame as he fell silent again.

Instead of answering his question, Reiner turned his attention to Annie, who had finally decided to join them all huddled together — all the Titan-Shifters and graduates of the 104th. "Why'd you join us back then, if not for our original goal? When you'd first joined me and Bertolt, I'd thought it was because we were all working together to bring down the Walls — but now, no, even before then, I know as well as the next guy that wasn't the case with you. So... why... why agree to go along?" He asked this aloud so everyone heard and their eyes were trained on him as if he were a target dummy. "Was it because of Achi?"

Annie sat down next to Fritz and stared at the firepit herself for a few moments before she responded. "I... can't say for certain..." Had it for Achi? Her father? _Herself? _"But what I do know is I don't regret any of it, not only because of what it's given me, but also what I've learned to cherish and realize because of it."

"You did it for yourself, plain and simple." Ymir cut in, her hands clasped together as she leaned over Jayce's shoulder. "The decision to do it because _you_ wanted to. Achi was one of the main reasons, but you really went along with them because you _wanted_ to be your own person for once, rather than another's pawn, am I wrong?"

"What are you trying to say, Ymir?" Armin asked.

Eren nodded in agreement to his question. "What do you mean by 'pawn'?" He stood up and hovered a hand over the three Titan-Shifters. "Were they tricked into it?! All that death they caused, are you saying that they didn't do it themselves because they wanted to destroy humanity!?"

Ymir glared in his direction. "No, what the three of them did and anything after is forever stained on their hands. They indirectly caused all of those deaths back then, _that_ fact can't be changed. What I'm talking about is the reasons behind their actions."

"Ymir's on to something," Armin said, "something that I've been wondering about since the Battle of Shinganshina..."

"That woman who had suddenly appeared." Mikasa stated bluntly, her eyes on Fritz. "The one who killed Connie."

Armin nodded. "Right. I believe she's behind more to all of what's been going on than we've previously believed."

"Which is nothing." Jean chimed in gloomily which managed to generate a chuckle from Eliza.

"Go ahead and tell us, the two of you. You're already openly talking about whatever happened five years ago anyway, so might as well dump the whole basket on us," she said with a certain amusement, eyes glued to Reiner as she waited for his answer with a contrasting intensity.

He started. "After... the village was overrun... me, Bertolt, and two others, Marcel and Berwick, escaped in the open towards Wall Maria, towards Shinganshina..." his eyes wandered to Ymir, "... but both Marcel and Berwick were eaten. The two of us would have been too, if that woman hadn't stopped Ymir when she did. All she had to say was 'cease' and we were saved." He laughed spitefully in Bertolt's direction. "If only we'd known what she'd wanted in exchange for our lives. To scare everyone, to remind humanity that the Titans needed to feared, and..." he nodded at Eren, "to find the Coordinate, who we've found out to be Eren. In exchange, she would save the village and the survivors, even promised she'd do nothing after she had the Coordinate."

"And she said she was looking forward to something else, but at the time we didn't know what it was." Bertolt added, and then, "Now, I believe it was whatever was in Eren's basement in Shinganshina. That object..."

With one stride, Eliza picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "Anything else? Do you remember anything about how you both turned into Titans?"

"I-I don't—!"

"Get off him!" Reiner shouted, taking her arm and separating them. "If we knew who did, we would tell you. All we were offered was a deal, just like this one now, but unlike now... we'd been young and stupid back then, blindly agreed to it..."

"And even if you had wanted to disobey her, you couldn't." Eliza stated as their eyes were deadlocked. "Her voice crawled and festered in your skulls until you had no choice to obey or you'd go mad. Is that right? Was that what you were going to say next?" Reiner nodded and she grinned, the grin quickly turning to a look of sympathetic empathy. "You were afraid of what she would do to you."

"Nightmares," Bertolt say with a slight shrill to his voice. "After we had done it... we had nightmares each and every night. The only way to stop them had been to forget..."

"Which gives another explanation for Reiner's split personality..." Ymir said.

Eliza chuckled as she and Reiner broke free of each other. "I bet you were scared too."

"Shut up!" Ymir growled as she went back to Reiner and Bertolt. "You two were forced to do it, you didn't want to hurt anyone... you didn't—"

"_Yes!_ Who... who actually wants to kill and murder people...?" Bertolt answered. "Nobody does!"

"What, did you parents teach you that the world was full of flowers and sunshine all the time? That it wasn't harsh? That people wouldn't die? That you wouldn't suffer?!" Eliza retorted with her hands raised in shrugging fashion. "Both of you are hypocrites! _Monsters_ that nobody cares for! _Who actually wants to kill people?!_ We all do, who doesn't at some point!?" She sighed loudly and let out a laugh, then, "The feeling as you rip into them, the realization when all their hopes and dreams have been taken from them, you really revel in it, don't you?! You sick twisted bastards!" She made a fist and gulped, a wide grin on her face, "You've tasted the cruelty of the world, you're already in hell!" Eliza turned to Ymir and the grin was even bigger as her voice filled with emotion, eyes holding so much more. "Even you!"

Ymir tackled her into the firepit and repeatedly went at her face, its fire engulfing them. Eliza just took blow after blow and laughed again after Ymir had exhausted herself, then threw her off. Ymir rolled in the grass, got up, and kneed her in the chest. Eliza responded with a headbutt. Blood trickled down both their foreheads and just as they were about to go at each other again, Sasha sprang into action.

"Guys! Stop this! We shouldn't fight with each other! We were talking about that woman! She's the one we should be getting angry at, not each other!"

"Stay out of this!" Ymir roared as she knocked her aside. "This _bitch_ went too far!"

In the blink of eye, Captain Levi caught both of their hands mid-swing and effectively stopped the fight. "Save it for the enemy!" He raised his usually quiet voice and glared at the two of them. "You _dumbasses _are just going to draw them all here fighting meaninglessly like this! Calm down _now!_"

Everyone else looked down into the firepit then and silence elapsed. As soon as the Captain released her hand, Ymir spat something under her breath and stormed off. Eliza walked off in the opposite direction, and as Fritz watched her, thought he'd heard a hint of worry in her voice when she'd asked about Ymir being afraid or not because of that woman. He felt a hand on his and looked over to see Annie shake her head to tell him not dwell on it any further. She knew what he was thinking, for she was thinking the same, and she knew it would only bring up unwanted tension if he pursued it now. _Save it for another time_, her eyes told him, s_ave it for a better time, when everyone has had time to cool down._

**—-—-—**

Eren crashed to the ground in his Titan form as steam billowed from his Titan's hands and Eliza shook her head as she inspected them. They'd melted from his attempt at crystallization. The skin tissue of his fingers had fused together and burned into the grass underneath to leave puddles of goo. She motioned Hange over and the woman's eyes widened.

"So, what does this mean?!" she exclaimed as she went from the melted hands to the nape of his neck as Mikasa hastily tried to cut him loose. He wouldn't budge from its inside and Hange came up to see that a part of his skull was visible. His eyes were empty sockets and she shouted down at Eliza for an explanation.

"He can't regulate his Titan's temperatures to properly harden his skin and crystallize. If he keeps it up, he'll fuse fully into his Titan and we'll lose him then. His hands are melted because he increased the temperature too much." Eliza shrugged and climbed to the nape of his neck and now stood beside the two of them. "I'd only agreed to teach him this ability if he understood the fundamentals of Shifting first, but he doesn't. Rip him out of there and let him heal, there's no use continuing this." Mikasa's face showed signs of concern and she smirked. "He'll be back to normal in no time, don't lose your shit over it." Mikasa finished cutting him out and proceeded to hold him as Hange ordered her assistant Molbit to make a quick report.

Down below, Annie watched Eliza jump off Eren's Titan. The girl had decided to help Hange and the rest of them out of nowhere and she wanted to know why. Eliza was a mystery to her; the way she acted, it was sporadic. She observed her take the broken sword strapped to her back and swing it through the air at an imaginary enemy. Her movements were so fluid, so fast. Just from her practice swings, Annie knew that if she wanted, Eliza could have killed most of them during that trial with the King. Yet, she hadn't. The pain, the sadness she held in her heart. All that regret, all the failure she's kept bottled inside, it was what made her go forward. If not for her sorrows, the girl would have probably committed suicide by now. What did she want to say? What was it that kept her here, if not for humanity's struggle anymore? Annie decided to finally confront her.

"What do you want?" Eliza asked as Annie stood behind her now. She continued to swing her sword.

"Your pain, what is it?"

Eliza stopped her swings and glared at her. "You too, huh?" With a beckoning of her hand, Eliza told Annie to follow her to a place to sit down, away from the others. "You want to know what my pain is..." Annie nodded and Eliza scratched the back of her head, she leaning back. "I was wondering when someone would finally ask, but I hadn't expected it to be you." She snickered. "Either way I have to come clean— no, I _want_ to come clean..."

"Were you... betrayed?" Annie asked upon realizing that the look in her eyes had been the same as Achi's, only concealed behind playful twinkles and bloodthirsty bouts. That same look of sorrow. "By someone you loved?"

At that, Eliza laughed. "Someone I loved? No, far from it. I was betrayed by someone I trusted, but not by someone I loved!" And then, she looked down, "Though, I couldn't blame the person I loved for resenting me because of it, of what I did. What happened because of what I did..." Her voice became softer and her eyes went to her hands briefly, and she seemed to be lost in thought until Annie cleared her throat. Eliza smiled forlornly and went on. "Do you know how humanity first came about the information that revealed the Titans' weak-point at the nape of their neck? Or why they haven't overrun humanity despite having multiple opportunities decades ago? The creation of 3-Dimensional Maneuver Gear?"

"Were you responsible for those things?"

"The first one, yes, but the second was a combination of my actions and that of a few reckless fools, and the third, I could never have the brains to create an efficient weapon to kill Titans, so I provided all I could anonymously. Those were the catalysts. The Lady had known all along what I was doing behind the scenes, and when I confronted her, she was simply amused. Not angry in the slightest; all my meddling just meant things got more interesting for her. Even so, she had that hound of hers beat me near to death, and in the middle of our scuffle I managed to fatally injure the bitch... or so I had thought. Now, we all know she's still here, laughing at us." Eliza's eyes wandered slightly, searching for someone. Then, "It's nothing you need to worry about." She got up and stretched her legs. "Anyway, that's it. I bit off more that I could chew and paid the price. Now I'm here living with the consequences. Anything else you want to ask while I'm in the mood to answer?"

"Are there any weaknesses to this... woman...? She can be wounded just like anyone else, yet survive fatal wounds. Is she...?"

"A Shifter? No — and neither is she entirely human. Something... older... As for her weaknesses, I was never around her often enough to catch any."

Annie thought of the girl Eliza had mentioned. The only one who made sense was Ymir, given their history together. And, the fact that Eliza knew she didn't have her full memory intact, did that mean Ymir knew more than she knew herself? Perhaps a weakness against that woman, a way for humanity to come through victorious? Before she had a chance to ask Eliza about it the other girl was gone. The sounds of the evening started to die down around her then as day became night again and Annie wondered just how much longer they all had to endure before it was finally over.

**—-—-—**

Historia took the small knife she'd gotten from the Captain and pressed it to the First Interior Squad member's wrist bindings. Her fingers were shaking — the man smelled awful, blots of dried blood all over the hard floor, around the chair he was slumped in. Fingernails, bits of hair, chipped teeth... it went beyond torture. Pressing the blade further into the rope, she thought she heard him sigh, but it must have just been the last breaths of air escaping what was left of his lungs. Mouth agape, a fly flew from his tongue, buzzing around his head now. She kept her eyes on it as the knife dug further and further, until it was finally free. The blade was red — she'd accidentally nicked his flesh. The handle had stains.

Tears, blood, spit, sweat.

The deep gash in his neck where the Captain had ended his life was so deep she could see exposed bone, bits of white and blackened red. Sound erupted as the other First Interior Squad member howled, babbling incoherent nonsense until the splintering sound of instrument on bone generated more howling. Captain Ines had told her the first man had beaten Pastor Nick to death, and, as an eye for eye, half his face was missing, what remained of his nose twisted at an odd angle. Repeatedly beaten until only a mushy mess remained. Slightly bloated, slightly decayed.

Both of the captives would die here, in the dark underground where no light could reach.

"Since your friend didn't tell me what I needed to know, I'll continue with you," Ines told the second man, the handle of her short blade resting against his knee-cap. "Unless, you still don't feel like cooperating?" His other knee-cap was shattered, the rest of the leg spread out at an odd angle. "I don't care if you have family, I only care about you." She slammed the handle on his knee-cap, and his leg twitched violent, kicking out. "Of course, I only _really_ care about the information you're still keeping from me, not you yourself." Raising the handle once again, she brought it down on his knee-cap. "Sorry — I'm not as gentle as... _others_..." Taking one of his fingers, she bent it back until a clean snap was heard. "Don't worry, you won't suffer long, just enough until I get what I need." Another finger. She removed the cloth covering his mouth.

"Y-you're insane—!" The third finger. "Why the hell would I—!" She grabbed his cheeks and squeezed.

"Be quiet," she whispered as she broke the fourth finger, then the fifth. Standing back from him now, she inspected the handle of her short blade — it was scuffed. "You were saying?"

"Fuck you!" His wrist went next. Eyes shut tight, he inhaled through his teeth and kept silent. After a moment of silence elapsed, he bowed his head. "I..." Looking up again, his eyes were full of tears. "The leader of the First Interior Squad is Kennet—"

"Ackerman." She spun the handle around and swiftly slashed at his other wrist, severing his hand from the rest his arm. As he howled for a third time, she wiped the crimson blade on the cloth she'd used to gag him earlier. "That's all I needed. Your cooperation is appreciated." Fingers stretching the skin around his eyelids, blade across his eye, Ines dragged it to the other side, slicing into his nose to get there. Fresh blood seeped from his eyes as she stood back again. More howling, ragged breathing, convulsing. She left the cell and shut the door, drowning the still screaming man in darkness.

Captain Kennet Ackerman... the Military Police's lapdog, leader of the First Interior Squad. _Confirmed._ Only a few more pieces remained...

Wiping off her blade for the second time, she went over to the cell Historia was cleaning up the first man, only to find her vomiting on the ground outside. She sighed then — she should've had Riecka do it instead, but even so, the child needed to see this type of death up close, rather from the back of a horse or atop a Titan's shoulders. Tomorrow, she was to be handed over to Dimo Reeves and delivered to the First Interior Squad, where she supposed the girl was to be executed. _Reiss_ — the Commander had been right, she was a member of the royal family. Though, there were two claims to the throne still left alive, but the other was disinterested in such a title as ruler, that'd been made clear months before. That left this girl. This girl who tried to be strong despite all of the weaknesses bogging her down from within. Sheathing her weapon, Ines clasped her newest subordinate on the back.

"Are you alright...?"

Historia wiped around her mouth, "I-I'm fine. Did you get anything out of them?" A nod. "Anything about my father?" A shake of the head. "I-I see..." Standing up, Historia looked down at her fingertips, blood underneath the nails. "The next phase of the plan then... is..."

"Handing you over to the Reeves Corporation and having you negotiated over to the First Interior Squad."

"You're going have them all killed, like those two men back there... aren't you?"

"Yes."

"And my father?"

"If it comes down to it... you'll be the one to do it..."

Eyes widened, Historia shook. "W-what? Me? Kill my own father?" She stared at the Captain, who was now walking away, blood smeared across the Wings of Freedom on the uniform's backside. "I-I—!"

"Hurry up, Reiss," the Captain called over her shoulder, "we need to get cleaned up. They wanted you unharmed. Change out of that clothing as soon as you get inside and wash off."

"Y-yes ma'am..." Looking back at the underground entrance to the interrogation cells, Historia felt the urge to vomit again.


	26. Scars

**XXV|. Scars**

_"Loosen the formation! Don't bunch together!" Squad Leader Heath Munsell shouted, holding an arm out flat to the members of the Scouting Legion riding behind him. "I don't want any casualties on a simple recon mission!"_

_The terrain around them was barren, a flat wasteland of browns and dark greens, occasional patches of earth-red popping out like fountains of blood. Ahead was the forest they were to investigate, its deep yellow tops rising high into the air and dark ancient worn-out trunks rooting into the ground. It was the first forest so close to Wall Maria, after decades of little to no vegetation growth in the area. Not since the Red-Field Massacre from which the wasteland got its name. A forest springing up at its center-most point, the occurrence was the first signs of the area wanting to live again. To breathe life back into its soul, despite how forbidding it seemed._

_As he and his men came closer to the forest, black birds flying from its branches, hearkening their arrival, he ordered them to stop a few meters from its edge. After staring up at the length of one of its trees, its massive twenty meter size, he turned to his men._

_"We're about to enter the belly of the beast! If any of you wants to turn back now, the Commander needs more men to hang back in case we don't come back out! You can go with the second detachment, or even the third, if you prefer, but none of you are retreating back to the safety of Maria!" None of the men moved and he nodded his approval, turning back to the forest. "Our mission is to explore the first stretches of this forest and nothing more. Anything found is to immediately be reported back, even if you have to leave your comrades behind — or at least that's what's been said. I, for one, value your lives over whatever is found in this dark place, so don't be afraid to disregard orders from the higher-ups on my watch and save your comrades, because I'll do the same!" Kicking the sides of his horse, he started the trek into the forest._

_Twisting branches and curled roots proved difficult for their horses, so he ordered the men to dismount and left two to watch them at the forest's edge. Hand on one of the many dark trees, Heath felt a slight tremor in the ground beneath his feet and held up a hand. A rustling of leaves further ahead. Slowly, he crept towards the source, coming out to a meadow full of flowers, many decayed, their petals browned and stems limb. In the meadow's center was one of the monsters, a Titan. Its back was turned to him and the detachment. Whispering. A pleasant voice could be heard on the other side and before they could get any closer the Titan moved away to the meadow's edge and in its place stood a woman with long red hair, dark eyes, pale skin. She smiled at them in greeting._

_Sword unsheathed, Heath poised it towards her. His eyes flickered in the direction of the Titan. Titans were known to eat humans, and yet this woman was unharmed. Add this to the strangeness that a person was before them, inside this forest — inside the Red Wasteland. There were no settlements outside the bounds of Wall Maria, nor knowledge of any individuals not of the Scouting Legion on any record ever journeying this far. And, the way she smiled, it gave him a sense of dread. There was something terrible about this woman, and he struggled to raise his voice above a croak._

_"What are you doing here?" he asked, taking a step forward, at the same time motioning for his men to slowly make their way back to the horses. "Nothing should be alive in this area, least of all a person, so answer! What are you?!"_

_The woman tilted her head. "My, you're an observant one, aren't you, child? Is this the boy you were so fond of?"_

_A sweaty palm around the hilt of his sword, Heath watched the Titan cast its black eyes on him._

_"Come out of there, you're scaring him."_

_The Titan knelt down and the nape of its neck split open, a long-haired figure emerging and jumping down to ground below. Yet, the last Heath had seen her was when she'd adorned a Scouting Legion uniform — thirty-four years ago._

_"E-Eli...?" Lowering his sword, Heath reached out a hand that quickly fell to his side. Sinking to his knees, he shook as she came forward. "You..."_

_"Skrymir, we've wasted enough time already. I'm sorry it had to be someone you knew previously, but now isn't the time for reminiscing or remorse. No hesitations." Heath flinched as the woman came closer and put a hand under his chin. "You won't have to endure for much longer." Her eyes, like staring into an abyss. She gently took his sword from his grasp and handed it to her subordinate. "Behead him."_

_Heath's wide eyes shifted. "Eli... how— no, why are you..." She lifted the sword to his neck. Swinging it back, she briefly stopped upon his sad smile, how understanding and determined the look in his eyes were. _Are you proud of me?_ they said._

_His head came to rest at her feet moments later._

_**—-—-—**_

_"Open the gate! Deliver us to the Titans outside the Wall!" _

_The mass of Titan-worshipers gathered in front of Shinganshina's gate chanted in unison, raising their fists at the Garrison members atop the Wall. The remnants of the Scouting Legion's forces, caked in dirt and wallowing in defeat at their loss of Squad Leader Heath and the first detachment, were just coming into the District, the local residents barely even taking notice of them anymore as the voices of the worshipers drowned out even the sound of the bells signifying their return._

_Eliza stood with her arms crossed on the Wall across from the building that held the levers, pulleys, and other mechanisms that opened and closed the gate at will, watching the display below. Sheathed at her hip was Heath's sword, which she'd found out to the same one she'd abandoned that day thirty years ago, during the Red-Field Massacre incident._

_Earlier, the Lady had commanded her to toss Heath and his detachment's severed heads over the Wall to land in the mass of gathered residents and weary soldiers, and a majority of the crimson spatters of mixed bone and brain were still visible, nobody having bothered to clean them away. Now, at the possibility of Titans so close to the Walls in thirty years, the Titan-worshipers wanted to offer themselves to be devoured, seeking freedom from life between the jaws of a Titan's gaping mouth. _

_Eliza's eyes were focused on the woman leading them, the one who'd picked up Heath's head and cradled it to herself. Digging her nails into her arm, she looked over at the nobleman held hostage above the gate, an axe resting on his neck as he whimpered in fear, his pants soiled, clothing drenched in sweat. The executioners stood over him, and each time the Titan-worshiper's chants increased in volume, the axe was raised higher and higher, until finally, it came down as the bells from the churches all across the District chimed as one to signify freedom. The freedom of being in a cage as the outer gate of Wall Maria opened, leaving the Titans waiting outside free to spill inside..._

_People ran every which way to escape the Titans that managed to squeeze through, most becoming caught in their clutches, eaten, to dissolve in stomach juices only to be regurgitated moments later. The woman she'd been eyeing, as well as the other Titan-worshipers, were among the first to be taken, offering themselves with open arms. As the carnage escalated to a certain point, the present members of both the Garrison and Scouting Legion unable to do much besides usher the fleeing survivors to safety as best they could, she gave the signal for Garmr and Fenrir — the signal to have the Titans cease and retreat back into the outside world, into the wasteland where they belonged. Some of them didn't leave as ordered, being simple and without much in the way of coherent thoughts, complex thoughts like "leaving the spoils for another time". Thus, she had to personally led them away herself, and once all of them were safely led astray to the outside, the gate hastily closing, she slipped back inside to witness the damage the Lady's game had caused._

_The woman who had cradled Heath's head in her arms was clumped in a ball of decaying body parts and skeletal remains, herself bloated. Her stomach was agape, having been ripped open from a blade's point, whatever inside spewing out of the vomit and juices to lay in a crying heap of her blood. A baby._

_Members of the Garrison and Scouting Legion were gathered in a group around it, whispering of a "Titan's child" and "a baby born from a monster's womb". All she saw was a candidate that the Lady would strive to use to her own ends, like she herself._

_"Titan's child," she scoffed, focused on the poor soul as she approached it sword raised, aiming to end its life before—_

_"Stop!" A member of the Legion held her back. "No matter what it was birthed from, it's still a child!" He wrenched the sword from her hands and threw it to the ground. "Solm! Put your crossbow away!" In front of the baby was a young man with a scar running down his cheek, shaky hands around a small crossbow trained on the baby's head. "Solm!"_

_"All of you put your weapons down now!" a booming voice commanded, all heads turning to the current Commander of the Scouting Legion, Jorge Pikale. "Carlo, release your fellow sister-in-arms!"_

_Eliza spun around and delivered a solid punch to the young man's face, his hands parting ashen hair to clutch at a bloody nose. A firm hand squeezed on her shoulder as its owner loomed over her._

_"And you, don't hit your fellow brother-in-arms! Do I make myself clear?" When he received no reply, Commander Jorge lifted his bearded head back and bellowed in laughter. "A defiant one, aren't you! Now, the two of you apologize to one another, before these events take anymore grim turns!"_

_The young man named Carlo reached a hand out, the other holding a stained-red cloth to his nose, in grudging offer of truce. "No hard feelings?"_

_"Yeah, no," clasping her hand in his, she squeezed harder than necessary, "hard feelings."_

_Commander Jorge clapped his hands together. "Now that you two are done, we move on to this 'Titan's child'." Holding it up with his massive arms for them all to see, his eyes twinkled. "Since the Scouting Legion nor the Garrison has any say, we must leave him to the Military Police's jurisdiction."_

_"But sir!" Solm spoke up, "This baby is—!"_

_"The Military Police, Hume, holds jurisdiction. Leave your outbursts to yourself."_

_"Y-yes sir..."_

_Eliza watched the Commander of the Scouting Legion as he called for a cloth to wrap the baby with, thinking of herself in the same position. She would have ended its life on the spot just as she'd tried doing. Glancing down at her sword, she knew the position was never meant to be hers, that Heath had been wrong just like she'd said all those years ago. She was the same as the monsters that roamed the wastelands, the monsters that had gotten through the gate, the monsters that had nothing to hold onto and thus had no feelings anymore._

_Yes, she knew now — it was because she was already dead inside, like the Titans humanity so feared._

Staring out into the distance, Eliza focused on the remains of the ancient forest, just a large discolored patch in a red terrain of barrenness. They'd been riding non-stop the previous few days, now nearly halfway to Reiner and Bertolt's village. Once they were a full halfway, the detachment would split off into two groups, a few going with Annie Leonhart to her village and the rest continuing on to Reiner and Bertolt's village as had been planned. Undoubtedly, the boy beside her would go with the girl. Again, she noticed the leather strap around his neck, the trinket tied to the end, resting underneath his shirt collar. The necklace around his neck. The more times she saw it, the more she was reminded of her past. Leaning closer to him, she frowned. Where could this boy have acquired _that_ necklace?

"What is it, Eli?" Fritz twisted in his saddle, the necklace swaying.

"It's nothing..." She went back to gazing out at the Red Wasteland, keeping an eye on the necklace out the corner of her eye as she did so. When Fritz held it in the palm of his hand, grasping his fingers around the trinket at the end, her lips took on a melancholy frown. "Actually, Friedrich, there is something bothering me..."

"You can tell me, we're friends remember?"

"The necklace, where did you get it? Did you pick it up from the ground earlier?"

"No," he replied, eyes going down to it as he faintly smiled, "it was given to me by someone I admired. I've mentioned her before. Kalia. Remember? She died saving me during the Battle of Trost..."

"It's hers then?"

"I'm not sure myself, but I do know that it held great value to her. Why? Is there something you know about it...? I mean, given your—"

"It belonged to an old friend of mine," she stated. "Before your time, after my own."

"Would you mind, Eli? Your old friend..."

She leaned back a bit, stretching her shoulder muscles. Her eyes were on the Red Wasteland again. "His name was Solm. A member of the Scouting Legion ninety years ago, give or take. He was very... apprehensive. Always questioning everything he came across, for good or ill. It kept him alive, for a time. That necklace you've inherited was more of a comfort to him, than anything. Whenever he'd have a bad feeling, he would grasp the trinket between his fingers — as if there it had a special property that gave him confidence; that protected him. Like you're doing now."

Fritz cast forlorn eyes down to the trinket, then back up at her. "What happened to him?"

Eliza looked down then, and with a pained chuckle, said, "I abandoned him to death."

"Eli..." He reached over to put a hand on her lap, which she recoiled from.

"Stop. I don't need your sympathy — I don't deserve it anyway. All I ask is your cherish that which has been given to you, for good or ill." Then, "Do you know the history behind this wasteland?" Fritz shook his head, and she sighed. "Of course, they would keep the truth from the public, wouldn't they?" Casting a hand out, she indicated at the ground. "First, what is it that you see?"

Fritz leaned over his horse's side, blinking. "There's nothing but cracked soil, everything is—"

"Red?"

"Yeah, it's almost like, rage itself..."

"This area is very humid, which is partially why the color of the ground is so red."

"Partially?"

She nodded. "Yes, partially. The other reason is," she gripped her reins tighter, "because of me."

**—-—-—**

_Peering over the members of the detachment to look upon Wall Maria's gate, Eliza grinned. This was what she's been dreaming of — the land outside the Walls, how far it stretched and what lay inside it. What the Titans looked liked in the flesh. The leader of this latest outing was a man with a dark goatee and long hair, Squad Leader Alaric. He was atop his horse facing them, with his second in command and advisor flanking him to either side. At his side was a long tipped spear, and his voiced boomed through the ranks as he lifted it to the sky._

_"Is everyone ready to move out!?" The detachment roared in unison, lifting their weapons and chanting. Gloved hand still holding the shaft of his spear, he eyed the newest additions. "Rookies, are you prepared for this?"_

_Eliza scowled when his gaze lingered on her, and she turned to Gerd. "I bet he has a thing for young girls, what a creep."_

_"Or he's just letting you know not to do anything rash," the girl replied, crossing her arms and swiping her hair to the side. "I mean, come on, everyone knows you're a—"_

_"A what?"_

_She winked. "Hot under the collar. You're like a man in disguise, all that bravado must be intimidating." The girl ran a hand through her hair and shrugged. "But, hey, there's no saying that he isn't a pervert."_

_"Yeah, yeah, I get it!" Eliza retorted, swinging her reins and agitating her horse. It tossed its head back in protest. "You're no fun, Gerd. You and that piss nut brother of yours. Both of you are so frank with everything. Would it kill you to joke a little and indulge me once in a freakin' while? It pisses me off."_

_"You're always pissed off."_

_"Shut up."_

_Another shrug. "Fine, have it your way."_

_As the gates of Shinganshina were being raised, Squad Leader Alaric ordered the rookies to stay at the rear of the formation and let the more seasoned members take the front positions. Eliza fiddled with her sword, adjusting it so that it didn't jab her horse in the side. Gerd was humming some tune that she wasn't familiar with, not bothering to ask. She looked up as they went through the gate and grinned. Exhilarating. Her grin wider than ever the moment they cleared the gates, she caught a look from Gerd who then went back to gazing around at the scenery. Mostly barren, small signs of life here and there. Turfs of grass scattered around their current location, some bushes, harmless animals and birds. No dangers. _

_The gate was now closed, and at the front of the formation Squad Leader Alaric was shouting for them to form a double line as they went. Today was just a simple patrol to see how far out they could manage to get without fear of encountering Titans. Signs of the leftovers of a few small villages were present in the area, and the higher-ups wanted to know if the land was safe for reclamation— as far as they could go and as much as they could take back.  
_

_After traveling some distance from the Wall, Squad Leader Alaric had them slow down due to poor visibility on account of a light mist. Above their heads were dark clouds, about to drizzle. He ordered them to don their hoods and wait it out. One of the men asked if they should send a messenger back to the Wall, to inform someone of their situation, but he was against the idea. The weather rapidly started to pick up. The possibility of Titans appearing was high, the formation not currently moving to disperse any lingering smells. With them gathered here like this, they were asking to be eaten. After a combined protest from the men, the Squad Leader finally approved to send a messenger, despite the weather conditions, huddling the formation into a tight circle. He ordered Eliza to be the messenger, with another to guard her._

_Being let on by her "bodyguard", Eliza squinted in the rain, but couldn't see past the mist. The direction of the Wall was north, which is the way they've been going, and yet, there was no sign of it anywhere. With a groan, she leaned back in her saddle. The guy accompanying her was watching her every move — as if she'd try anything stupid in this weather. She _could_ use this opportunity to call out to any nearby wandering Titans, see one in the flesh and all. A sigh. No, if the guy got eaten because her, she'd be in deep trouble. Not to mention, what would stop the Titan from eating her as well? She shook her head. At the first sign of trouble she'd face it head-on, worry about everything else later. If only there was some way..._

_"Why aren't you moving?" the guy asked beside her, scowling. He pointed a gloved finger north, "Maria is this way, the Squad Leader didn't send you on this mission to admire the rain."_

_"Yeah, he did it to get rid of me. Real piece of work, the asshole."_

_"Hey! Watch your tongue you—!" A multitude of screams erupted back where the formation was, and he turned toward the sound. "Damn!"_

_"Titans!" Eliza's face lit up and she spurred her horse forward, her bodyguard yelling for her stop and cursing under his breath, having no choice but to follow her. Trotting through the muddy field, the rain pouring, the screaming seemed to be traveling towards them; whatever was left of the formation was coming their way. Like thunder._

_The first few came into Eliza's field of visibility and she waved, asking what'd happened. One of them shouted to just run and not look back, another saying the Squad Leader had been hit by something too fast for the eye to follow. And, after his fall, the formation started dropping one by one, the mist concealing whatever was thinning them. When she asked about Gerd, the soldiers were already moving past her. More than seeing a Titan, she had to save her friend. Had to check if she were alive or dead. __Going the opposite direction as everyone else along with the bodyguard who was still following her despite the danger, none of the faces were Gerd's and she grit her teeth. If she was dead then—_

_A sudden rumble of thunder startled their horses and they both were both flung to the ground, coming up mud covered. The sounds of footsteps in the mud. Someone humming._

_Eliza's smile was torn from her face when a woman with red-hair, and carrying a severed head, strolled nonchalantly towards them. Each footstep was a stabbing pain to her heart and grim-faced, she unsheathed her sword and poised it at the woman. Her bodyguard did the same. The woman's head was tilted to the side, observing them as she came closer, noticing Eliza's eyes on the severed head in her hands. Its blood dripping onto her hands. She squeezed it gently, other fluids coming out to coat her palms. With a smile, she tossed the head at Eliza's feet, rubbing her hands into her hair._

_The moment she flicked her hair back, eyes closed without a care in the world, Eliza rushed her. __She swung her sword at her head, jumping to clear the whole distance. Her sword was knocked from her hands, the blade slicing into her leg as the woman blocked the strike with the back of her hand. Eyes open again, the woman smiled for the second time. Clutching her wound, Eliza could only scowl as the woman proceeded to take her sword and cut down her bodyguard, who'd tried attacking from behind. She'd slashed across his abdomen, intestines spilling out as she then licked the mixture of juices and blood from the blade. Raising the blade out in front of herself, she spoke._

_"Finely crafted. Slices well. Much better than one's hands." __She went and retrieved the severed head, holding it in the other hand. "Judging by your action, this was precious to you. The power behind the attack, the passion, I'd expect nothing less from Týr's daughter." Reaching forward, she ignored Eliza's threats and placed her hand on the girl's forehead. "What a troubling child you are," she commented as Eliza sank her nails into her forearm, trying to push her back. "Be still." Eliza lost control of her movements then, her arms going numb. "I'm starting something, and you're going to be important for its implementation. But first, you must learn obedience and discipline."_

_The woman's hand steamed as it clasped her forehead, and Eliza cried out in agony as something crawled its way into her mind. Tearing into her memories and thoughts, it embedded itself deep within her mind. As soon as the woman removed her hand, Eliza howled and sank forward._

_"Your life is no longer yours. Remember that, child."_

_And then, she dissolved into the rain as if she'd never been there in the first place. Eliza clawed at the ground and forced her eyes to the severed head of Gerd, touching her hair, cursing and screaming through the tears._

_Later, when she'd returned, she couldn't expel the voice in her head. Silent. Commanding. As she came upon the others, her rage and misery blackened her heart and consumed her, mind torn in two. The voice, it said they were useless, that they were all pieces of meat that had no purpose anymore. Things that needed to be disposed of._

_And, taking up her sword, she became their executioner._

**—-—-—**

As Eliza finished her story, Fritz could only stare at his saddle. The things she must have seen in all her years' worth of living, he couldn't begin to imagine. His eyes went to the trinket on his necklace and then to the Red Wasteland below his horse's hooves. The woman behind it all, how _twisted_ could a person have to be? He felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced up to see Eliza's sad smile as she and her horse then pulled away.

"No use dwelling. Think about only what's right in front of you, Friedrich. Appreciate what's been given to you. And, once we make it to those two villages, we'll both get answers." Her head turned slightly. "And, some of us, _closure._"

He nodded, his gaze going to Annie then. The answers that they both sought. "I know."

Eliza stared down at her reins. Certainly, something would be waiting for them at each location, but what about before? Yet, so far, nothing. At the back of her mind, she couldn't expel the thought of something terrible. The Coordinate was here, as well as the other Shifters. Three of them still had something hidden away inside of them. Her eyes went back to Fritz — a reconstruction and deconstruction ability. She was certain that was the ability of the Foundation like Sharle. Then, that girl, Annie Leonhart; her mastery of the crystallization techniques in such a short amount of time, the ease at which she could use them without any prior knowledge — the Catalyst. The power she once possessed. Now, the only one that remained was the Trigger. A glance back: Ymir was staring at the ground beneath her horse, at the nothingness. She bit her bottom lip — if worst came to worst, she'd have to force them to the surface herself.


	27. Meetings

**XXV||. Meetings**

The sun shone down on Historia as she stood, hands tied behind her back, in the large courtyard chosen as the meeting place between the Military Police First Interior Squad and the Reeves Corporation. White cobblestone, wet from an earlier sudden downpour, reflected her features as the two groups stood apart from one another. She looked down at her reflection as she remembered the plan the Captain had devised.

The plan was to wait for the exact moment she was to be handed over, and then open fire. Her bindings consisted of loosened rope, so when Captain Ines and the others, positioned at key points around the courtyard's perimeter, fired their rifles, she'd be able to escape in the confusion that followed with relative ease.

The courtyard itself was open and surrounded by two stories buildings with pillars, the more expensive lavishing of the upper class of Wall Sina lining their foundations. A fountain, partially covered in moss for aesthetic effect, was present in the center, further dividing her and the Reeves Corporation from the First Interior Squad.

Her eyes went upward. The leader Captain Ines had warned them about — Kennet Ackerman — was standing at the head of the First Interior Squad, consisting of four men and two men, his face partially concealed by the black hat he wore, only a slight stubble visible along with the end of his nose. He wore long clothing, also black. The others were similarly dressed. She noticed two pistol-shaped bulges on either side of his hips, and, as he lifted his hat up, eyes a dark grey, deep set and frightening, they poked out from the ends of his long-coat.

"Mr. Reeves, how nice of you..." he started to say, gaze moving from the old man to young girl in front, "and do you remember me, kid?" His smile was wicked. "I was the one who cut your mother's throat. The night you were given the false identity of Krista Lenz."

Historia gulped. "Where's my father?"

"He's no longer here, and, Mr. Reeves, I thought I told you this meeting was to be kept a secret." Pulling out one of his pistols, the barrel far longer than regulated standards, he pointed it at the two of them. "Well, it's not like I trusted a righteous man like you in the first place. In fact, this makes it easier for me…" As he pulled down on the trigger of his pistol, Captain Ines's voice rang through the courtyard.

"Open fire! Straight through their hearts!"

"Sorry, Princess," Dimo Reeves hastily said as he knocked her down, taking the bullet through the chest, staggering back.

Hands free, Historia turned around: Dimo Reeve's clothes were already soaked, a bullet hole in the center of his chest. And yet, as he fell onto his back, dead before he even hit the ground, the satisfied smile on his face filled her with resolve. His bodyguards were hit soon after, falling just as Historia turned her attention back to Kennet Ackerman.

He had both pistols out now, and had them aimed at Captain Ines, who was on the ground level now, along with Anka and Riecka. The three of them were behind the pillars, returning fire at the First Interior Squad.

"I've heard of you, Erwin's lapdog." Kennet fired a round at one of the pillars, taking a chunk of it. "Your… methods are quite like my own." Another shot. "Which is why I'll enjoy killing you, and that brat later."

Moving to the fountain and ducking behind it, Historia felt his eyes shift to her, and, as if he were telepathic, he answered her question.

"Captain Levi, taught him everything I know. It'll be nice to see how far he's come."

"Historia! Get back! You're no use to us dead!" Riecka shouted, appearing from behind a pillar to her right. She fired her rifle at one of the First Interior Squad members and ducked back at the return fire. "Come on, kid! This isn't the time to be playing hide and seek with the deranged killer!"

Right, she had to move. Captain Ines ordered them to cover her as she started to crawl away from the fountain, and when she'd gotten halfway across the courtyard, bits of cobblestone flying all around her, the leader of the First Interior Squad's shadow loomed over her. She heard the pistols click.

"I've been told not to keep you alive. Luck of the draw, I'm afraid."

"Historia!"

A wire hook shot out and hit Kennet Ackerman's hand, impaling it as well as the pistol he'd been holding. While he was busy ripping the mangled hand free, no longer able to use his pistols, she took the opportunity to bolt for Riecka's location. Just as she was about to reach it, she stopped. She couldn't feel anything in her left arm. Blood trickled down her forearm, dripping onto the ground. Trying to move her hand, she couldn't. Sinking to her knees, she clutched at her arm, shot through near the shoulder.

"Historia! _Historia!_"

As she collapsed, blood pooling around her body, she saw Riecka's distorted form running towards her, rifle firing off shots. She saw her get hit in the side, yet keep going. Being turned over, she stared into her superior's blue eyes and wished she was just as strong, as her vision waned. And, Riecka frantically calling her name, telling her she'd be just fine and that she'd haul her to safety, Historia's vision finally became dark as she wondered if she ever could become strong enough.

_"Anka!" _Ines yelled as she threw down her rifle and unsheathed her short blades. Throwing one at Kennet, she ordered Anka to cover Riecka and Historia, simultaneously telling Zena to keep on the First Interior Squad members from above.

While she did this, Kennet had sidestepped her throw, pistol aimed at her. As he fired off a series of shots, she used her Gear to evade quickly and swing around to knock him down with a well-placed kick. He shot a round that flew passed her ear, rupturing her eardrum, as she knocked the pistol away and headbutted him. He kicked her off and got to his feet, producing a hand-held weapon of his own. He lashed out then, missing her and using the slight window of opportunity to take the short blade she'd thrown earlier. Discarding his own weapon, he looked at hers.

"Behold Courage," he read and, swiping the blade, "I can certainly see it in you, kid. Tell me, are you a dreamer like your father was?"

Without warning, he rushed her.

Ines turned his thrust to the side and went to elbow him, only to have him duck under it, punch her in the gut, and throw her into the fountain. She rolled away from a stab and came up with a kick, hitting him in the shoulder of his mangled hand. He spun around the kick and locked blades, pushing down. She knocked him away and turned his blade downward, uppercutting him simultaneously. He recovering almost instantly, where she then dodged a series of jabs and rammed him into the fountain, the two of them falling over it into the water. Splashing, they grabbled until he slammed her head against it, holding her underwater. Choking her. Struggling, she came up with the blade and made a shallow cut to his abdomen, the water turning all the more crimson. Backing off, he clutched the wound, and smirked.

"Better than I expected from a lapdog," he remarked.

As Ines struggled to rise again, Kennet retreated with the members of the First Interior Squad still left.

Zena came down a moment later, eyes on the direction Kennet Ackerman and his men had escaped to.

"Captain, two of the First Interior are dead. The rest—"

"What about the girl?"

"Unconscious. Everyone else has minor injuries."

"Help me up, we're going back."

"Yes, ma'am."

As Zena helped her, Ines looked around at the courtyard. It was ruined. She stared down at herself— she was a mess, and laughed. The infamous Ripper of Sina, the man behind the title. She was going to enjoy destroying him and the First Interior Squad until nothing remained. And, then, looking at her bloodied blades, there were the other Ackermans. As far as she was aware, Mikasa wasn't related, but Levi… no, Levi wasn't a threat, despite how much they disliked one another.

"Zena, double the pace to the Carolina's. We have to take care of Historia's wound before she bleeds out any further." Riecka had compressed the wound, but she wouldn't last long with proper medical attention. Everything else was secondary now.

"Captain, what about your ear? It's—"

"It's fine, Zena. Just focus on making it to the Carolina's."

"Yes, ma'am..."

Ines grit her teeth. The First Interior Squad was bound to hunt them down once they've made it to the Carolina's, to kill them all in one place effectively. The Carolinas weren't fighters, they were just a family of doctors who's daughter happened to choose the Military over fixing scraped knees. And, now, that girl was useless without hers arms as a soldier. They couldn't afford to let their guard down, and if anyone were to die on her watch... Kalia's face came to her. Petra. Isabel, Farlan, Alger, Larrens. If anyone was going to die, it would be Kennet Ackerman and the First Interior Squad. If anyone was going to die, it was the bastard who was to blame for all the deaths up till now because of his inability to govern his people. The King. Whether that be the girl's father or the puppet warming the throne, they were all going to die.

**—-—-—**

"Whatever you guys do, don't get separated!"

"Is it the Titans?!" someone yelled.

"No! A monster far worse..."

In the distance, the shape of a great wolf could be seen, behind it other distorted forms of what looked to be a dense mixture of Titans and lesser hounds like at the Battle of Shinganshina. The space around them filled with a deep sense of hopelessness and dread, most of all coming from the great wolf, whose footsteps make the ground quiver. Eren called over to her, demanding that he and the rest of the Shifters transform, everyone readying themselves for the inevitable battle that was to come.

"Wait until I give the signal!" Eliza replied, pointing at the great wolf, its black fur that jugged out wildly unkempt. She knew that there would be opposition, but not _him. _Running was the first thing she'd ordered them to do, but if he was hunting them, then there was no escape._ Fenrir. _Blood was his saliva, teeth sharper than the sharpest blade, nostrils exhaling fumes of ash and fire. Rain started to pour down on their heads again, the droplets doing nothing to extinguish the fire that escaped its form. He stopped a few meters from them, the clump of followers behind doing the same. Snarling, he spoke with a deep, gravely, and ancient voice seeped in hatred.

"Skrymir..." His saliva hit the ground and steamed as a low grumble sounded in his throat. "Your soul... I'll enjoy sending it to the Void..."

Sword thrust out in front of herself, she poised it at his mouth. "Fenrir..."

The ground cracking beneath his feet, he spat blood and fire, "I am not as weak as Garmr. You will die here, daughter of Hel." As soon as he said the words, he howled so greatly thunder was heard in the heavens.

Eliza gave the signal for Eren and the other Shifters to transform and engage as the Titans and lesser hounds accompanying Fenrir as she and the great wolf stepped towards one another.

The Red Wasteland was to become bloodied once again.

She evaded Fenrir's massive jaws and slashed at his hide, only to have him swipe her with a claw, each knocking the other away. As they stood there, Eliza glanced over at Ymir — the girl was busy dispatching the hounds along with Annie, Reiner, Bertolt, and Eren taking care of the Titans. A handful of the soldiers, the girl with the red scarf and Fritz among them, were in the thick of it as well, having disobeyed the order to stay in the semi-circle. A bunch of reckless fools. She laughed then.

"What is so amusing?" Fenrir growled, yellow eyes narrowing.

"My sword when it pierces your throat." She raised the sword and it reflected the great wolf's monstrous features. "Straight through your mouth."

"As I have said, Skrymir, you will be the one to die here, not I."

Again, they went at each other, the ground shattering as they clashed. Ducking and coming up in the same instance, Eliza encased her fingers in crystal, shaped her hand into a spear-tip, and thrust up into his shoulder, his blood burning into her clothing, down to the flesh underneath. Her wounds steamed as they broke free from one another for the second time. The wound didn't faze the monster as he tossed his head back, and with a roar, spewed flames into the sky, its intensity bathing the battlefield in a even redder hue of rage. Eyes back on his opponent, he lashed out with a speed no human eye could follow. Jumping back, Eliza suffered a diagonal gash to her chest, once again steaming as she clutched the wound. She evaded the next attack, a three-meter Titan behind her torn apart instead. Increasing her regeneration, she started to close the wound to her chest. Bloodlust rose from the depths of her heart, but she suppressed the urge to transform. It was too soon.

Smearing her blood onto what remained of her uniform, she glanced around again. If she were to fall, the rest of them would be devoured by Fenrir with ease. She had to end their battle quickly, or else they'd never make it to either of the villages. She'd never learn who gave Friedrich and the rest their Titan-Shifter abilities. Moving away from another swipe, rolling on the ground to lie flat on her stomach, and hearing his grumbling laughter, she grimaced and swung her sword in a wide arc as she sprang to her feet, the great wolf rearing back. Blood trickled down her sword arm, dripping down the length of the blade as she dipped it towards the ground. Assuming a more defensive stance, she braced for his counter as his head smashed into her, sending her flying into a cluster of fighting soldiers and hounds. She ran her sword and crystallized hand through a few of the hounds, a giant hand catching her as she was about to hit the ground. It was Annie. The girl's eyes were focused on Fenrir.

"Don't even think about it, he'll kill you." Eliza told her with a grunt, the girl letting her down. "Keep your attention on the others." With what seemed like a nod, Annie cleaved one of the lesser hounds in two, its blood spraying over the two of them. A Titan was dispatched next to her, Fritz's blades bloodied and steaming. He rushed over to her.

"Your chest!" he exclaimed, a hand moving for it. "Give me a moment!"

"Friedrich, I'm fine! Go tend to—"

"Shut up and hold still!" Steam billowed from his hand and her wound closed to the point where it was barely visible, himself sweating from the toll. "There!"

"Now get away from here! He'll be coming straight at me any second now! _Annie!_"

Annie scooped Fritz up and slid back, spinning around and joining a different section of the battlefield. Eliza ordered the other soldiers to do the same, but wasn't fast enough as a few were run down by Fenrir as he surged through the carnage towards her, rooting up earth, destroying men and monster alike. Leaping high into the air, he came down with all his weight, hers arms straining, muscles and tendons tearing as she held him aloft in her Titan-form. His jaws snapped at her as she recoiled, and his tail came around to hit her as she broke contact. Biting a chunk from her shoulder, he spat it on the ground, and she backed away, black eyes following him as he started to circle her.

The moment he leapt at her again, she struck out with her claws, scratching his face as he howled in pain. She'd taken his right eye. Blood pouring from the wound, he growled menacingly. His next attack took what was left of her shoulder. The arm hung to the rest of her body by the ligaments and she crystallized her hand, striking him again. Increasing the temperature, the crystal encased hand started to melt as she drove it deeper into the skin of his chest. Breaking contact, they stared at each other. Releasing herself from the nape of her Titan's neck, she jumped away just as it burned down to a bloody mess of charred tissue, skin, and bone. Taking her sword in hand once again, they each knew the battle would be decided in the next moment. Charging one another for the last time, she thrust the blade into his gaping mouth, hardening her arm as he chomped down. Her sword pierced his throat and his jaws severed her arm.

Both of them tore free of one another for the last time, Eliza's lost appendage bleeding profusely, Fenrir gagging on the sword. Tossing his head back and forth, he cursed her and the rest of them to the Void, retreating in defeat and anguish.

Panting heavily, Eliza sank to her knees and coughed up blood. Her wounds were worse than she'd realized. The wound to the chest — _it wasn't normal._ The curse of Fenrir, an unsealable wound. She was bleeding out internally. All around her, Ymir and the others had mopped up the last of the Titans and lesser hounds. Again, she laughed. Shakily rising her feet, her vision was dimming. She felt a hand on her chest and someone supporting her from behind. Hearing Fritz's voice calling out to her, she smiled.

"Eli, hold still, I'm—"

She stayed his hand. "No, leave it, these... aren't wounds even you can heal, Friedrich. Where's... where's Ymir?"

"Eli, this isn't—!"

"Tell me," she commanded with iron in her voice. There wasn't much time for her left as it was; she had to do it before that time finally ran out. Beside the boy was Annie, and they locked eyes. "You know as well... as I do, don't you?"

"Yes." The girl nodded, and Eliza smiled again.

"Then help... this fool of yours already. Make sure he... doesn't do anything befitting... of a dumbass."

"She's this way." Annie took her from Fritz and led her to the Titan-Shifter's location.

Ymir was staring at her hand, devoid of a couple fingers from a close tackle with the lesser hounds. She turned when Eliza stood before her.

"Skrymir..."

"Come here." Eliza came forward, reaching her remaining arm out towards the girl.

"What are you—?!"

Eliza took her in an embrace, mouth to her ear. "I wonder what it must have been like for you, alone all those years. I know you must've hated me, still hate me; that I'm one of the worst parents a child could ask for. That I've kept it from you all this time..." she whispered, blood smearing Ymir's clothing, hair, and face; everywhere. Blood mixed with tears.

"W-What...?"

"Who you are..." Staring into her eyes now, she smiled warmly. "Hold still, will you?" Touching her forehead to Ymir's, she concentrated her thoughts, boring into Ymir's mind. Digging deeper until she found the source of the girl's cage, the memories that were locked away, grinning. "You didn't... actually think Ymir was your real name, did you...?"

Ymir's eyes widened. "_What... did you... just say?_"

"This is going to feel worse than the headaches I'm sure you've felt till now." Eliza joked as everyone gathered around them, waiting for what was to come next. "Don't cry from the pain this time, alright?" she chuckled.

"Skrymir, what did you mean by Ymir not being my—"

"Call me Eli, like you've always done, yeah? Well, you'll remember. Just... keep still. You're about to get the answer you've been searching for all this time..." A blinding light consumed the two of them, enveloping them as Fritz, Annie, and the others all backed away. Inside the center, Eliza kissed Ymir's forehead, her body dissolving into ash. " We'll see each other again, I'm sure of it, but for now I'm counting on you, so don't screw up you ungrateful brat..."

Once the light has dissipated, Ymir was alone, Eliza's clothing lying on the ground, along with her ashes.

"Eli!" Fritz screamed, taking a step forward. "Ymir! Where'd she go?! Ymir!"

Ymir was staring at her hand again, the fingers all attached. Tears were starting to run down her cheeks, and the scars beneath her eyes had faded almost to the point of non-existence. "Ymir, huh?" Closing the hand into a fist, she fell back on her behind and bowed her head, chuckling softly. She looked at her palm for a third time and covered her eyes, shaking her head back and forth. "If that's who I really was, then who the fuck am I now, hah?" Her eyes went to the light breaking through the dark clouds of the Red Wasteland, then down at Eliza's jacket on the ground beside her feet. "You damn bitch." The tears were streaming down her face now. "You think you can just dredge up all that shit and that'll be the end of it? Goddammit— no wonder I've resented you all this time..."

"_Ymir!_"

"Shut the hell up, I heard you the first dozen times." Ymir groaned with a scowl as she got to her feet again. "And it's Carina, not Ymir."

"What are you talking about?!"

"My name. It's Carina. Just like Eli's is Eliza and not Skrymir. My name is Carina, not Ymir."

Fingers tightening around the trinket on his necklace, he took another step towards her. "Fine! Then, where the hell is she, huh?!" A hand grasped his shoulder.

"You already know, don't you?" Annie said. He answered by burying his head into her shoulder, crying. She put a hand on his back to sooth his pain, staring down at the ashes. Eliza— she'd done something before she'd disappeared. _Was it similar to when she and Fritz's minds had connected?_ Silently, Annie watched as Squad Leader Hange strode up to the ashes and asked for someone's flask to put them in, scooping them up. Placing them in a flask she'd been given, she turned to Ymir, no— _Carina_ — offering it. Carina accepted the flask, placing it inside her jacket. After a moment, Hange spoke to what remained of the detachment.

"We're moving on! No stopping, even with the loss of a few of our own! Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover's village isn't far from here, and Annie Leonhart's village as well! Ym— I mean _Carina_, is there anything that you'd like to add?"

The girl once known as Ymir nodded. "There is one thing, but before that..." Her focus went to Fritz. "Hey, moron, she didn't die so you could cuddle with Shorty. What's done is done, there's no bringing her back, no matter how much you or I want to. I can't see what she saw in you, but—"

"What do you have to tell us?" Annie interrupted.

"Something she'd been reluctant to bring up. It's about the Coordinate."

"What about me?!" Eren yelled.

"There are others with powers like your own," she indicated at herself, "with myself being one of them. These two as well." She nodded towards Annie and Fritz, then went back to Eren. "Besides your ability to control Titans, you also have the ability to control people." She scuffed. "Personally, I think that's bullshit, considering you're the one who has it, of all people. Eli wanted me to tell you, no— whoever had acquired the power — to 'not rampage around like a dip-shit while using it'. She was right to be concerned..."

"And what the hell does that mean?!"

"You said Annie and Fritz, as well as yourself, all had similar powers?" Grasping the girl's shoulders, Hange shook her. "What are they? What do they mean for us?! Are they a hindrance?!"

"Back off!" Carina shrugged the Squad Leader away and righted her jacket. "Give me some room, will ya!?"

"Hurry up!"

"Alright, alright!" Carina looked away then, "I never really understood why myself, but apparently Eli was so fixated on burying them back then that I couldn't not remember it... Something to do with the end of the world— as if I care about that shit..."

"What do you mean, _'end of the world'_?!"

"Ragnarok is what she called it. That object that was in Eren's basement, it was the centerpiece for it. _Brísingamen_. The four of us, — Eren, Annie, Fritz, and me, are needed to activate it." Carina scratched back of her head. "What did she call them again...?" She scowled and kicked up some red dirt. "Shit! I never did pay attention..."

"We don't have time for this! Why don't we just figure this out on the way?!" Eren interjected. "The longer we wait here the longer it takes for us to get to the villages!"

Squad Leader Hange glared at him then, "I don't know about you, but the end of the world is more important than whatever's in either of those villages. And, not matter what _is_ in those villages, it would be within our best interests if we know as much as possible about this before going in blind. Though, you do have a point that we're losing precious time." She put a hand to her chin and glanced around. "Levi! I want you and the Special Operations Squad to move on ahead, I'll catch up once I've learned more here. Take the rest of the detachment with you! But, if you manage to reach either village, I want you to wait until I arrive!"

"Right." Captain Levi answered, motioning with a hand for them to start moving.

"And you, Annie Leonhart, I need you to stay here as well! There's a matter we need to discuss! Friedrich Brandt also!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Annie responded, still holding onto Fritz.

Carina stomped a boot down. "I got it! The Coordinate, the Foundation, the Catalyst, and the Trigger. Humanity is taken to its fate by the Coordinate, bound there by the Foundation, fixed in place by the Catalyst, and doomed for all eternity by the Trigger — something like that."

"That doesn't sound pleasant," Hange commented. "Is there any way to stop it?"

Carina shook her head. "No, not that I'm—" She cursed under her breath and made a fist, "There is."

"Well? What is it?"

"Not what, who. Someone that I didn't want to get any further involved in all of this bullshit..."

"Historia," Annie guessed, catching her eye.

"H-Historia?" Fritz looked at her.

Hange crossed her arms then. "I figured as much. There's something we've been keeping from you all, but Historia Reiss is a member of the royal family. She's supposed to be the one in power, as the Queen, not the current King, who we assume is just a puppet. Captain Ines and the Special Investigations Squad are watching over her, trying to uncover whatever the First Interior Squad of the Military Police, which answers directly to the King, is up to. If what Carina says is true, and Historia is the only way we know of to stop this 'Ragnarok', then we have to inform Ines. But, we also can't abandon the two villages."

"I'm going to her," Carina said. "I have to make sure of something..."

"Without Eliza, we're going to need your power more than ever, you can't!"

She pointed at Fritz and Annie, "Eli didn't only entrust the stopping of Ragnarok to me, but also the two of them and, even though he's a pain in the ass, Eren. I think they'll be enough for whatever is waiting in the village. Not the one Eren went to, the other one."

"My village, you mean."

"Yeah."

"Then what about Reiner and Bertolt's?"

"She had a feeling they were being controlled, so expect trouble when you get there. As far as I know, there could be trouble at the Shorty's village too, but... she thought there'd be more good to come out of it than harm."

"Sounds like a plan." Hange nodded. "Carina will travel to Wall Sina to inform Ines, and, Annie, you and Fritz will head to your village. I'll catch up with Captain Levi and tell him the situation, as well as send over reinforcements to you."

"Fine with me," Carina said with a shrug. Then, "And where exactly is this Captain Ines in Wall Sina?"

"I'll give you a general location, as I don't exactly know myself, to tell the truth." She took out a piece of paper and scribbled on it, folded, and then handed it to the girl. "I've written an address on here, in case you get lost. Head to that if—"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Carina whistled for her horse and mounted it. "I'm going."

Squad Leader Hange watched her leave then turned to Annie and Fritz. "You two, before you leave, there's also something I have to ask. It's about the two of you linking minds. Is there any chance you can use that again?"

Annie shook her head. "No, not that I'm aware, and, we only say bits and pieces of each others' memories. We were able to communicate by our thoughts clearly, but that was only when I was encased in that crystal barrier. If we were to somehow try it again, I would be rendered useless, and, not to mention, while it didn't do anything serious then, the fact that it can harm either one of us is too great a risk."

"I... see... then nevermind..."

"Why? Did you have something in mind?"

A shake of the head. "No, it's nothing. Forget it. What's important right now for us are the villages. Focus only of those, and pray that everything on Ines's end will go smoothly." She got onto her horse as they did the same. "Let's hope nothing happens..." Even as she said the words, she couldn't help but glance back in the direction of the Wall. There... was something... ominous... about the whole thing.

Hange grit her teeth and went in the opposite direction of Annie and Fritz, hoping that the bad feelings she felt were just her imagination.


	28. Warmth

**XXV|||. Warmth**

The blood swelled at the wound and formed a mess of dark crimson, soaking her sleeve as the man with the black curly mustache and tiny rounded glasses took a cloth from his side and wiped her forehead. Trying to open her eyes to get a clearer view of the man, she was told to just lie there and try to bear with the pain… and that was when she'd remembered.

She couldn't feel anything. The wound. It was numb. Her arm. It was lifeless. Dead-weight.

At first, she thought the man must've done something; given her some type of medicine to deal with the pain, but she couldn't remember. All she knew was that there was no pain and, glancing at the wound, the hole, wondered if the bullet was still in there. All she saw was the hole. And, then, like that, it closed. Sewn shut. No longer agape and exposed to the elements. She watched as the man wrapped a bandage around it twice, securely tying it and doing final checks. His face, the warm smile. Kindly gray eyes. A father.

She blinked and looked past him, at her friend who sat in a chair with her mother behind her, both of them with concerned expressions… and she felt something then.

Envy, sorrow, hate, pain.

There it was. The pain. It was back again and the longer she kept her eyes on her friend and her mother, the more it hurt. The more it dug a deeper pit into the bottom of her soul that couldn't be refilled nor stopped. Bottomless. A chasm. Carving out the kindness in her heart until her eyes reflected the changed, becoming solemn and empty. Blue eyes tarnished black.

Make it stop.

She clutched at the bed they'd laid her on to treat and clean her wound, white stained red. Her nails sunk into the cloth and tore at the fibers, her clouded eyes fixated on the image of her friend's mother. The concern across her features. Even the tears in her eye. Why? Why hadn't her mother shed a tear for her? Why?

_I should have killed you the moment you were born. _The hatred. The emptiness. The neglect. _Don't come near me. Stay where you are and don't even think of bothering me again. _Why? _You're not mine. You're just something that bears a strong resemblance. _Goddammit. _I can't bear to look at you! _Goddammit! _I can't take it. _Goddammit! Goddammit! Goddammit! _If only… _Mother! _If only… you… _You're a fool! _If only you… hadn't been born, then… _You're just a whore. A nobody! Who the hell could ever possibly love trash like you! _I wouldn't be in this mess. I wouldn't have to—! _I just wanted—! _If I love you then… I… I'll…_No, don't—! _I'll… _Don't leave! _I'm sorry… _Please! _You're just something I need to forget. Pretend that never and happened. _Why wouldn't you—! _Because, if I don't, then—! _Mother, I—! _I'll hate myself even more than I already do!_

Reaching her hand out, she tried to grasp at something that wasn't there. Shaking, her fingers tried to touch the emptiness. Feel the hatred. Handle the neglect. She wanted to have something to hold onto. Something that she could never have again and never had the chance to have. The pain. She closed her eyes. Tears welling. And then, something warm. Her fingers were clutched in something warm and her eyes opened.

"It's okay, you're alright. Nothing is going to happen."

The love. The warmth. The care.

"My daughter has said a lot of great things about you. Of your kindness. I'm so happy that I've finally able to meet you." Tears. Warmth. Enveloping and wrapping around her body. "It's alright. Everything going to just fine now. Your wound is going to get better in no time. I know it hurts." Squeezing gently, the embrace from her friend's mother sank into her chest, traveling to her heart. The cold, the sorrow, the hatred. They were burned away by its intensity and her eyes became clear again, the darkness retreating. The love. "You need to rest, so I'm going to get a cup of warm milk that'll help lull you right to sleep. I used to give it to Mina when she couldn't stop tossing and turning. And…"

The smile. Full of the thing she wanted but could never get.

"As far as I'm concerned..."

She felt a finger touch her chest. Where her heart resided.

"You're my daughter too."

And…

_I love you, Historia. _

There were no words.


End file.
